Irrefutable
by thelastcenturian
Summary: Quinn is new to McKinley immediately gets caught up in the whirlwind that is Rachel Berry and her protective half-sister Santana. Soon, though she learns that there is history behind the pair and their family, just waiting to be uncovered.
1. Chapter 1: Beware Of The Half Sister

**A/N: Yep. It's me, again. I honestly don't know what I'm doing with another story. Oh well. Brief summary: Quinn is new to McKinley immediately gets caught up in the whirlwind that is Rachel Berry and her protective half-sister Santana. Soon, though she learns that there is history behind the pair and their family, just waiting to be uncovered.**

* * *

Part One:

"Mom, I'm fine!" groaned Quinn shoving off her mom's hands, which were fixing her already perfect clothes and rummaging through her bag to make sure everything that had been put in and checked twice, was still there and hadn't mysteriously disappeared in the last ten minutes.

"I just wanted to be sure. Starting a new school can be scary…" Judy began what seemed like what was going to be a long speech so Quinn quickly rested her hand on her mother's shoulder and interrupted her.

"I know I'll be fine." assured the younger blonde before leaping out of the car before her mother could say any more.

The last year had been tough for the Fabray family. Especially Quinn.

She'd gotten pregnant with some douche-bag's baby after getting drunk on far too many wine coolers. What? She felt fat that day. She'd always been a little insecure, even if she'd always been the stereotypical all-American girl, pretty, skinny, blonde, smart… you get the gist.

This led to her father, Russell going spastic and kicking her out. As it turns out, he'd been having an affair with what her mother described as a "tattoo freak" and he'd been kicked in turn and Judy let Quinn back in, having not really wanting to kick her out in the first place. Quinn's little baby girl, Beth was given to a new mother who could give her everything Quinn couldn't.

However, getting pregnant at sixteen wasn't great for a girl's reputation and she was therefore ridiculed and bullied. Eventually, Judy sold their oversized family house and they packed bags and moved to Lima. This brings us to now, with Quinn standing outside of William McKinley High School at the start of her junior year.

Quinn tightened her hold on her bag and entered the school slowly.

The hallways were packed with students ranging between the unbelievably tiny to the extraordinarily large and all those others who got lost in the crowd. Quinn had to leap out of the way of two jocks that were successfully entangled with each other and fighting with shit eating grins on their faces as their peers chanted and cheered them on like a pack of apes watching as two alphas fought for dominance.

Quinn side-stepped them and searched for an office which should belong to Miss Emma Pillsbury. Quinn squeezed through the small gaps in space between the bustling of students and shoved her way into an emptier hallway.

Luckily, right in front of her was a see through glass panel office with the name Emma Pillsbury on the front. Quinn knocked and the ginger woman, who had been scrubbing at her vase with a toothbrush, looked up and beckoned her in with two rubber glove covered hands.

Miss Pillsbury delicately put down the toothbrush and pulled off the rubber gloves, chucking them into a small bin labelled 'rubber gloves'.

"You must be Quinn Fabray." the guidance councillor greeted, rushing forwards and shaking the blonde's hand.

"Yeah." Quinn answered, feeling slightly awkward already.

"I'm Miss Pillsbury, obviously as you've read my spotless door sign. Have a seat, please." Miss Pillsbury mused and motioned towards two uncomfortable looking seats located in front of a big wooden desk.

Quinn took a seat and Miss Pillsbury took her place behind the desk, turning the chair until it was in the exact right place and manoeuvring herself until she was in the perfect position also before folding her hands over her knee and smiling at Quinn.

"Right, well, welcome to McKinley," Miss Pillsbury sent her a small smile which Quinn barely returned "I know it must be difficult starting a new school in your junior year, but don't fret, my door's always open if you need someone to talk to."

"Thanks." mumbled Quinn.

"Also, to ease any worries you may have, I do own a selection of leaflets which you can take, no charge, of course." the wide-eyed woman turned in her chair to gaze over the selection of appallingly named leaflets before picking a couple out and handing them over to Quinn.

The blonde looked down at them and raised an eyebrow. One was named '_New to School? : How to Fit in_' another was '_Your Very Own Personal Guide to McKinley High School_' and the last was the thinnest leaflet by far and named '_What is There to do in Lima?_' as it turned out, there wasn't very much to do in Lima in the slightest.

"So, Quinn, why did you move to Lima?" the guidance councillor asked, snapping Quinn out of her leaflet induced thoughts.

"Oh, my parents got divorced and I – uh – had a bit of a tough time at my last school." Quinn explained shortly.

"Well that is a shame. Never fear, I'm sure you'll have a great time at McKinley…" assured Miss Pillsbury.

A loud nasal squeal interrupted her speech and both women looked through the glass panels to see a large dark skinned football player hoisting a smaller and nerdy looking ginger boy over his shoulder, heading for the bin.

"Oh… dear," Miss Pillsbury cleared her throat awkwardly and brought Quinn's attention back to her "anyway, McKinley has a lot of excellent extra curricular clubs to offer. Our Cheerleaders are six time consecutive National champions, our glee club got to Regional's, our debate team argued their way to Nationals, twice…" Miss Pillsbury trailed off with a shrug "what are you interested in?"

"Oh… I dunno really," Quinn replied "I'm willing to try new stuff I guess."

"Excellent" the ginger woman clapped her hands together lightly yet joyfully "well, you should be getting to homeroom in a minute. You have been placed in our Spanish and Glee Club teacher, Mr Schuester's class. Don't worry; he's very nice, kind, handsome… uh… yeah… if you have any other problems, just come straight to me."

Miss Pillsbury handed Quinn her timetable.

"Thanks, Miss Pillsbury." Quinn said, shoving the pamphlets far into her bag but keeping the timetable in hand in order to navigate her way to her next class.

Just as Quinn was about to stand, the door of the office opened and a flash of brunette hair breezed in.

"You wanted to see me, Miss P?" the student asked.

Quinn turned her head and immediately froze in her place. In a heartbeat she was captivated by the girl in front of her.

She was small but Quinn found it endearing. She had long brown hair with what looked like a new-ish fringe cut in. She had tanned skin and chocolate brown eyes. Quinn's eyes scanned lower. The girl was wearing an above the knee, cute navy dress with a short white cardigan.

The eyes scanned lower and she nearly openly drooled at the long legs in front of her, which seemed impossible on someone so small in height.

"Ah yes, do come in Rachel," Miss Pillsbury beckoned in the girl with a wave of her hand and the brunette stepped into the room, letting the door shut again behind her.

"Rachel, this is Quinn Fabray, she just transferred here," Miss Pillsbury introduced "and Quinn, this is Rachel Berry, co-captain of the Glee club and Swim Team amongst others…"

Rachel turned to Quinn and gave her a big smile, holding out her hand. Quinn immediately stood and shook her hand.

"Nice to meet you, Quinn Fabray." Rachel said pleasantly.

"Y-yeah, you t-too." Quinn winced at the sound of her own jittery voice but Rachel merely let out a melodic laugh.

"Rachel, I was wondering if you'd be so kind as to help Quinn out. Be her kind of buddy of sorts, just until she's used to the school." the guidance councillor asked.

"I don't see any problem with that," Rachel shrugged before whipping Quinn's schedule out of her hands and scanning her eyes over it "cool, I'll show you around."

"Well, see you later, Quinn." Miss Pillsbury waved the two girls off as Rachel looped her arm with Quinn's and led her out through the now empty hallways.

"So…" Rachel broke the silence "Lima, huh? To be honest, I can't see why anyone would move here, most people spend their lives trying to get out of here." Quinn chuckled.

"My mom and dad split up." she replied.

"I'm sorry." Rachel said sympathetically, looking down at her shoes with a frown.

"Don't be, my dad was an ass," Quinn shook her head and Rachel nodded slowly "anyway, Lima doesn't seem to be so bad so far." she looked pointedly at the brunette on her arm, but said girl didn't seem to notice.

"You get used to it, but trust me, you'll be wanting out soon enough."

"Really? Where are you planning on running off to?" asked Quinn.

"I have my sights set on New York, hopefully I'll attend Julliard and then achieve fame on Broadway," Rachel paused, meeting Quinn's eyes and sighed "yeah, unrealistic, but a girl's gotta dream."

"No dream is unrealistic; it's the dreamer's strength to get them there that is, depending on how bad they really want it." Quinn told her making Rachel smile at her broadly.

"I like that," she muttered as they approached a classroom "this is Mr Schue's Spanish classroom, which is also our homeroom. C'mon."

Rachel opened the door and dragged Quinn in with her.

"Ah, Rachel, there you are. And I see you brought the new girl that Emma – I mean – Miss Pillsbury was telling me about." Mr Schuester, a guy with far too much gel in his hair and a weird grey vest on waved them in from the edge of the desk he was perched on.

"Yes, this is Quinn." Rachel introduced to the teacher and also to the class of disinterested looking students.

"Well, I'm Mr Schuester; this lot just call me Mr Schue. The students in this classroom are all part of the Glee Club which I run," the greasy haired teacher told Quinn with a cheesy grin on his face "guys, why don't you all say a little about yourselves for Quinn."

Nearly every student rolled their eyes but nodded.

"I'm Artie, head of the AV club." said boy pushed his glasses up his nose and then ran his gloved hands over the wheels of his wheelchair.

"I'm Mike … and I can pop and lock." an Asian boy shrugged from his seat next to Artie.

"I'm Tina and… well… there isn't much else to say except I'm dating Mike." the Asian girl with her hand in Mike's smiled shyly and Mike kissed her on the cheek.

Everyone else chuckled at her statement except Artie who shifted uncomfortably.

"Well, I'm Kurt and I'm the biggest male diva you'll probably ever meet." Kurt exaggerated this by flicking his hair slightly.

"I'm Mercedes and I lovvvvvvvvvvvvve tater tots." Mercedes said with a grin on her face and Kurt merely grimaced from his seat next to her.

"I'm Puck but you can call me anytime." a guy with a Mohawk winked at her.

"I'm Sam and I can speak Na'avi." the blonde haired boy said receiving a low mumble of 'lame' from Puck, who he shoved in return.

"I'm Finn and I'm the quarterback and co-captain of Glee with Rachel." Finn sent a dopey lopsided grin in Rachel's direction who looked extremely put off by it.

Finn was suddenly lurched forwards as a foot attached to a long tan leg kicked the back of his chair.

"Back off Finnocence," growled a raven haired cheerleader threateningly "oh and I'm Santana Lopez, head of the Cheerios."

Finn whimpered, rubbing his back and Santana just laughed at him.

"And I'm Brittany S Pierce and I love unicorns!" exclaimed a bright blonde cheerleader from Santana's side.

"And that's the club for you, why don't you say something about yourself, Quinn?" Mr Schue suggested.

Quinn blushed slightly and cleared her throat nervously.

"Well… I…" the bell interrupted her and she sighed in relief.

"Another time, perhaps" the Spanish teachers suggested as the class leapt from their seats and sprinted for the door.

Quinn merely sent him a shy smile and turned to search the rapidly emptying room for Rachel, whom she found having a hushed conversation with Santana.

Rachel's eyes drifted over and located her and she made her excuses with Santana and walked over.

"You're with me for first period, I'll show the way."

* * *

Quinn usually prided herself on her ability to read people, but when it came to Rachel Berry, she fell short.

The girl seemed to be extremely intelligent and usually quite upbeat – but then Quinn saw these flashes, when she'd look into Rachel's eyes and she'd just seem so _sad_.

When Quinn asked Rachel if she was okay once and Rachel just put on a smile which she could tell was a practised show smile and said yes.

Despite this fact, Quinn still found herself mesmerised by the small girl. Due to some God-send she'd been placed in all her periods that day with Rachel and hadn't been able to take her eyes off the girl.

Quinn never thought she'd even be remotely attracted to girls, but Rachel wasn't any ordinary girl.

"Hey." Quinn was snapped out of her thoughts by Rachel tugging at her arm.

She remembered that her Spanish lesson had just ended and it was lunchtime.

"Sorry, zoned out for a bit." Quinn blushed nervously and Rachel nodded in understanding.

"I tend to do that in Spanish, Mr Schue is a fairly average teacher and I what you could call extra sessions at home," Rachel chuckled at the end "anyway, I was going to invite you to have lunch with us."

"Oh yeah, I'd love to. I ended up eating lunch on my own in the bathrooms at my last school. People weren't nice." Quinn explained sadly.

"That's horrible," Rachel whimpered slightly and pulled Quinn into a hug "come with me."

Rachel pulled away and grabbed her hand, dragging Quinn along until they reached the choir room which had the Glee Club all sat together.

"Jew Babe!" Puck exclaimed alerting everyone to her presence.

"Hey, don't mind if Quinn joins us do you?" Rachel asked taking seat on Puck's lap whilst Santana growled slightly and Quinn grabbed a seat and sat next to her.

"No problem." shrugged Kurt, smiling at her.

Rachel got stuck into a conversation with Puck, Santana and Brittany but thankfully Artie engaged Quinn so she didn't feel awkward.

"So Quinn, how's your first day been?" asked Artie.

"No complaints, definitely better than my last school," Quinn replied, eyes drifting back up to Rachel "can I ask, are Rachel and Puck dating?"

She didn't mean to sound so forward, but luckily Artie didn't notice or at least didn't say anything. Actually Artie grimaced and shook his head furiously.

"No, uh-uh, no – just no," he winced again "they're best friends. They're as close as brother and sister though, they've got some epic bromance going on, and it's no secret. They're co-captains of the Swim Team."

Quinn nodded, slightly in relief.

"Gees, Artie. Don't leave out details! He's her cousin!" Kurt added, joining the talk "they spend loads of their time together."

"They kinda like fake flirt some of the time, it's a weird relationship but it works," Mercedes commented "sometimes they have to watch their backs because you know what Satan can be like, I mean, they're cousins but you know…"

Quinn frowned. Since when did the devil get involved in this conversation?

Quinn was brought from her thoughts when she heard a beautiful voice drift smoothly to her ears. She looked up to see Rachel singing with Puck. Quinn soon recognised it as 'Gives You Hell' everyone stopped talking and Artie and Sam picked up their guitars and Finn settled down at the drums.

Rachel leapt off of Puck's lap and began circling the club. She ruffled Puck's Mohawk, making him frown and smooth it out playfully. Rachel skipped over and put her arms around Brittany and Santana before pulling them from their seats and they joined in on the harmonies and skipped after her.

Quinn was more awestruck by Rachel Berry than before. The girl could sing like an angel!

Mike jumped up from his seat and began popping out some jaw dropping moves which Puck tried and failed to copy. When the chorus neared again, Quinn felt herself being pulled out of her chair by Rachel who winked mischievously at her and continued to hold her hand as she skipped around Kurt, Tina and Mercedes who were still in their seats.

Quinn's eyes caught Santana, who was singing quite happily but glaring secretly at her for some reason which spooked Quinn a bit. Quinn tried to hide her disappointment as Rachel dropped her hand in favour of getting the final three out of their seats. Quinn soon found herself dancing goofily with Kurt and not caring.

This bunch were so carefree, she'd never encountered such a diverse yet comfortable group of friends at her last school and she felt honoured to even be slightly accepted into it.

The song ended and everyone took a second to catch their breath and laugh heartily.

"I like it here already," Quinn said to Kurt "Rachel's an amazing singer."

"I know, if I wasn't extremely gay then she'd totally be my type, but even I'm not that brave." Kurt chuckled and straightened his still immaculate hair.

Quinn froze.

"Wait… w-what do you mean?" she asked, trying not to sound desperate.

"I'm surprise you don't know yet, Barbie Girl. Santana won't let anyone near her." Mercedes scoffed and jerked her head to the side.

"Why not? Are they dating or something?"

"EW! NO!" Kurt said, a little too loudly "they're half-sisters!"

Quinn felt herself let out a breath that she didn't even realise she'd been holding.

"Oh… wow," Quinn cleared her throat awkwardly "but they seem so… different."

"Same mom, different dads I heard… I'm too scared to really ask though, stuff's happened to that family…" Kurt shook his head "Santana's the biggest bitch in school, everyone's on her leash. No one's dared to give Rachel any big problem or they'll be in for a world of pain."

"Okay, well she's a bitch to everyone but Rachel… and Brittany… Anyone who even gets close to Rachel gets their ass kicked," Mercedes explained "it's weird but we don't question it. I love my backside to much."

Artie wheeled over and joined their conversation.

"Santana has always been mega protective of Rachel, we're not surprised she hasn't even allowed anyone to date her." Artie added.

"Rumour has it that it took Finn three months of begging, deals and being like her slave for her to finally let him ask out Rachel and then Santana turned around and said she'd been joking the whole time!" Kurt whispered conspiratorially as Santana idly braided Rachel's hair as they spoke to Puck.

"Seriously?" gasped Quinn.

"You bet your ass, Barbie Girl. Santana _punched_ Finn when he hit on Rachel that one time… hasn't stopped Frankenteen though." Mercedes replied.

"Sam told me that when he asked out Rachel, Santana nearly whacked him with a baseball bat." Artie said seriously.

"Wait – Sam asked out Rachel?" Mercedes asked her voice a little weaker.

"Don't worry, Cedes, I'm sure he won't be making that mistake again." Kurt replied, resting his hand on Mercedes' shoulder.

The bell rang and the four began making their way to the door.

"Did you hear about the time Mike had to kiss Rachel in spin the bottle?" Artie asked to Mercedes as Kurt turned to Quinn.

"Hey Blondie, we're heading to the Lima Bean after school for some drinks, wanna come with?" Kurt asked making Quinn nod with a thankful smile playing on her lips, glad she had already found a group of kind people to be friends with and it just so happened that drinking at the Lima Bean was on her short list of what there was to do in Lima.

* * *

That afternoon, Quinn found herself sat sipping on a coffee with Mercedes, Kurt and Artie.

"So what made you move to Lima?" Artie asked.

"My parents split up… mom kicked dad out. And I… I kinda had a really rough year so we thought we should have a fresh start." Quinn explained.

"I'm sorry." Mercedes patted her arm gently.

"Don't be, really," Quinn shook her head and chuckled "I'm so glad to be out of my last school and that I've found such nice people to hang out with like you three and the Glee guys."

"What happened at your last school?" Kurt asked curiously.

Quinn ducked her head and took a shaky breath in. The blonde lifted her head again and met her friends' eyes with a solemn expression.

"Look, if you three promise not to tell anybody…" the three quickly nodded their heads "I got pregnant."

Kurt gasped and nearly choked on his coffee.

Artie stayed silent and patted the male diva on the back and Mercedes shot him with a withering glare as she rubbed Quinn's arm.

"Sorry" squeaked Kurt "you just seem so… wholesome."

"I was… it was a mistake. I got drunk with this douche bag guy because I felt fat that day, he reassured me, lured me in… I gave my virginity away to him and got pregnant because I believed that 'trust me' was a sensible birth control option," Quinn felt tears stinging her eyes and a lump rising in her throat and the other three looked on sympathetically.

"What did you do?" Mercedes asked.

"I c-couldn't go through with an abortion and I g-gave her away," Quinn felt a tear make it's hot track down her cheek but it only lasted a second before Artie wiped with away soothingly "her name was B-Beth and she was beautiful b-but I couldn't look after her, I'm too young. School was difficult after that. I was getting shoved into lockers, my things thrown into dumpsters, everyone including my old drama club friends turned on me because I was even lower in the food chain than they were. I had to sit in the bathrooms alone at lunch because no one would sit with me, I had to work alone in class because no one would work with me, I had to go through the bullying alone because no one stood by me."

Mercedes wrapped her arms around the blonde fully as she broke down into heart-breaking sobs. Kurt reached across the table and held her hand sympathetically and Artie rested his hands on top of theirs.

"I can't imagine how hard that must've been for you, Barbie Girl… but you can trust us, we won't tell anybody." Mercedes assured her.

"It's true, these two were the first two I told that I was gay." Kurt added, smiling thankfully at his two friends who smiled right back at him and Quinn began wiping away her tears.

"Yeah, these two were the first to know when I was crushing on Tina… and when she broke up for me in favour of Asian-Abulous." Artie said looking down at his gloved hands.

"And these two wonderful guys were the first I told that I liked Sam… and now I guess you're the third." Mercedes chuckled and the blonde smiled thankfully at the three of them.

"Thank you guys." Quinn sighed and wiped the remainder of her tears away, glad and surprised that when they'd found out she'd given birth they didn't tease her, they didn't laugh, they didn't mock her or call her horrible names… they were supportive.

"I'll get us some more drinks." Mercedes offered and stood from the table, not before squeezing Quinn's shoulder reassuringly one more time.

"I-I think I've got something in my eye, excuse me." Artie ducked his head and wheeled into the bathrooms.

"Thanks again, Kurt. I thought…" Quinn trailed off and shrugged.

"You thought that we'd be mean and we wouldn't understand? We're not like that Quinn, we can tell you've been through something hard and you've obviously come out stronger because of it. Sure, there will be some people in school who wouldn't be as understanding as us… but idiots will be idiots, we'll just have to make sure they don't get hold of this little nugget of information, huh? And not ruin this fresh start you've got going," Kurt chuckled "this fresh start including a girl crush on the HBIC's sister?"

Quinn choked on air and her eyes widened considerably, the numerous ways to deny his keen observation piling up inside her mind, just as she was about to fire back a refute he continued.

"Hey, circle of trust remember, I won't mention it… just… nice taste, that's all I'm saying… but… Rachel kinda has 'APPROACH WITH CAUTION. BEWARE OF THE HALF-SISTER' rubber stamped on her forehead... and if Satan were to find out she'd rip you limb from limb." Kurt warned.

"So that's what you were talking about earlier! I didn't get that you called Santana 'Satan' …anyway. I don't even know if I'm going to do anything about it." Quinn shrugged and looked down at her lap "anyway, it's just a little crush, what's the worst that could happen?"

Kurt grimaced slightly as if she'd just put a curse on herself.

Mercedes and Artie returned soon enough and Quinn thanked whoever was watching over her for letting her find some good-hearted people she could gladly call friends.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for trying out this story. You will find out more about Santana/Rachel's family and their past. You get more Faberry stuff, more Kurt/Artie/Mercedes/Quinn friendship (I don't even know what that brotp is called) More Puckleberry bromance and Pezberry sister-ship. It's gonna be a fun ride.**


	2. Chapter 2: Angel In A Swimsuit

Part two:

The following day, Quinn arrived just on time for school. She approached her locker to find Rachel leant against it, absent-mindedly playing with her phone.

Quinn took in a sharp inhale of breath and walked briskly but calmly over to the brunette who looked up at her and greeted her with a warm and radiant smile.

"Good morning, Quinn." Rachel said tucking her phone into one of her dress pockets and sliding out of the way of the locker.

"Hi." replied the blonde putting in her combination and swinging open her relatively empty locker.

"I wanted to have a word with you, if that is acceptable," Rachel asked and Quinn nodded to let her continue "yesterday I saw that you seemed happy, with the New Directions in homeroom and lunchtime, I saw you going for what I presume was Kurt, Mercedes and Artie's typical Monday sorority meeting esc coffee trip at the Lima Bean after school."

"Yeah, they seem like nice people." answered Quinn, unsure of where this topic was headed.

"That they are. Let me get this out there, Quinn, I came to enquire as to whether you'd consider joining the New Directions. It's not the most popularity boosting club or socially accepted, but it's got heart and it's a lot of fun, the people are good and the singing and dancing are spectacular fun if you immerse yourself in it." Rachel explained quickly, she looked a little nervous.

"Sure, there wasn't a Glee Club at my last school and I've always liked the sound of it and to be honest I'm done with doing things that were just a popularity boost." Quinn told her, making a huge grin grow on the diva's face and she suddenly felt arms being thrown around her shoulders and crushing her into a tight embrace.

Quinn had to steady herself slightly on her locker before returning the hug. To her dismay, Rachel pulled away quicker than she would've liked.

"That's great! We meet after school today – oh and you'll have to audition, I can help you prepare if you like." Rachel offered.

Quinn gulped slightly and nodded dumbly, as butterflies began fluttering about inside of her at the prospect of being alone more with Rachel.

"Good! I'll see you later then." Rachel flashed another smile before skipping off down the hall.

Quinn sighed and watched until Rachel's retreating figure was out of sight. Suddenly Quinn was thrown forwards and dropped all her books to the ground when her shoulder was shoved into from behind. She gaped and looked up to find Santana sneering at her with a mean glare in her eyes as she walked past.

Quinn sighed – very used to having to do this on a tri-daily basis at her old school – and knelt down to gather her things. She was joined a second later by another figure helping pick up the books for her.

"Sorry about that, I'm sure Santana didn't mean to shove you like that." Quinn met the eyes of Sam; the nerdy kid in a letterman jacket, contradiction much?

"Yeah, sure." mumbled Quinn as the two blondes both stood and Sam handed over his half of the books.

"There you go."

"Thanks Sam," thanked Quinn tucking them neatly under her arm.

He smiled cheerily at her with his huge lips.

"Hey you remembered!" he waved his hands playfully and she nodded with a chuckle.

"Yeah, you know Na'avi right?" she asked and he nodded enthusiastically.

"Have you seen Avatar? It's AMAZING." Sam exclaimed as they began walking to their first class.

"Yeah… once or twice." replied Quinn with a hesitant laugh.

"I went to see in it the cinema eight times! It never gets old," Sam told her, excitement dancing in his eyes before he sighed "I'm boring you aren't I?"

"No! No of course not!" Quinn insisted resting a hand on his arm "I think it's great that you're so passionate about something you love."

Sam's smile grew ten fold.

"GET IN THERE EVANS!" shouted Puck as he walked past, thrusting his hips forwards for emphasis making both the blonde's blush and look away.

"Uh… that's not what I'm trying to… I…" Sam rubbed the back of his neck nervously and Quinn rose an eyebrow at him "I mean… you're a nice girl… very nice… but I like someone else…"

"Mercedes?" Quinn asked with a knowing smile and his eyes widened considerably.

"How did you…?"

"Let's just say, I think you'd be in with a shot." Quinn shrugged and went to walk into the classroom, watching Sam do a little victory dance before realising people were staring and running after her into the room.

* * *

That lunchtime Quinn found herself walking into the choir room with Kurt and Mercedes only to have Rachel stop them as soon as they were one foot into the room.

"We're going to the auditorium, Quinn, for your practise." Rachel said grabbing Quinn's hand and pulling her past the other two and back out of the room.

Quinn turned to say goodbye to her two chuckling friends but was met with Santana's eyes burning into hers from across the room. Quinn looked away quickly and let Rachel lead the way.

"So how was your day?" Rachel asked pleasantly, letting go of Quinn's hand but linking their arms instead.

"Oh, fine I guess. It's school so…" Quinn trailed off with a slight shrug and the tiny brunette nodded in understanding as they entered the auditorium.

"Well, let's get down to business." Rachel said skipping up onto the stage as her arm drew away from Quinn's and the smaller girl span and jumped in circles across the stage.

Quinn merely stood, mesmerised by the wonder of Rachel. Rachel soon stopped spinning and leant back on the piano.

"Sorry, I can't help it. I love it up here… it's so… free… I feel free." Rachel explained, her eyes scanning over every single fragment of the stage, even though she'd seen it a million times before.

Quinn walked slowly up the remaining steps and didn't stop until she was stood next to Rachel.

"What do you need to be free from?" questioned Quinn.

Rachel bit her lip as she looked up at the brightly glaring stage lights.

"It doesn't matter – you don't know me." Rachel replied with a stiff shake of the head and turned to press her stomach against the black hardwood piano edge, resting her upper body weight on her elbows upon the top of the sleek instrument.

"No, but I want to." said Quinn earnestly.

"You wouldn't get it, Quinn – so please just leave it." Rachel begged.

Quinn was a naturally persistent person – but she could tell when someone just didn't want to talk and she was most definitely a respectful person… or least she was trying to become one.

"Fine." Quinn shrugged and moved to take a seat atop the piano stool.

Rachel sighed before pushing away from the piano and dropping down onto the stool besides Quinn.

"I'm sorry, Quinn – that was rude of me," Rachel apologised sincerely "it's just that contrary to popular belief, I don't like to talk a lot – at least, not about the things that matter."

"I get it." the blonde rubbed the back of her neck, nervous in such proximity to Rachel.

They were so close in fact that Quinn was relishing in the warmth and general aroma of Rachel.

"I'm new, you know nothing about me and I know nothing about you. I'm just some stranger that's come wandering in where you don't want me to be, so yeah, I get it." Quinn huffed and looked away from Rachel and out at the many hundreds of seats which filled the auditorium.

"No, I didn't mean it like that!" insisted Rachel quickly "I didn't mean to offend you. I just meant that, I don't like talking about that stuff with anybody. I don't think anybody even really knows me. Not even Noah. Santana tries her best but not even she really gets me the whole time."

"Who's Noah?"

"Puck."

"Oh," Quinn turned her head again to look at Rachel "trust me. I don't think there's a single person in the world who really knows a thing about me – or, for that matter, even cares to find out."

"Is this about the people at your last school?" asked Rachel with a frown.

"It's about everybody. I guess by proxy that includes the people in my last school." Quinn sighed and shrugged once again.

"I think I'd like to get to know you too, Quinn." Rachel said after a minute.

"If you knew my past I don't think you'd be saying that." scoffed Quinn.

"If you knew mine I don't think you would be either," replied Rachel before she cleared her throat and sat up straighter "anyway, let's work on your audition."

"Sure." Quinn agreed quickly, whilst thinking that there was probably a lot more to Rachel Berry than anyone ever knew and she was determined to know every last bit of it.

Then she wondered if Rachel even slightly cared about what her past was. About Beth…

And then Quinn had an idea.

"Actually, I know what song I'm going to sing. Sorry for wasting your time." Quinn said quickly before standing and walking out quickly.

* * *

Fate had laid a hand in her English class as Quinn found herself seated next to Kurt.

She was also sat next to Brittany, and she wasn't quite sure what to make of that – or the girl herself for that matter.

"Are oranges called oranges because they are orange in colour? Or is the colour orange called orange because oranges are orange in colour?" Brittany asked her expression serious.

Quinn hesitated – because frankly she really wasn't sure.

"Try saying that five times fast." Mercedes whispered to Artie, both of whom were seated at the table in front of them.

"Are oranges called oranges because –" Artie proceeded to repeat quickly much to the amusement of Mercedes whilst Brittany pouted in response.

"Anyway," Kurt drawled, garnering Quinn's attention once more "how was your lunch time rendezvous with Rachel?"

"It wasn't a rendezvous – she was just prepared to help me with my audition for this Glee club. In the end I didn't need it." Quinn insisted.

Kurt merely raised an eyebrow and winked slyly at her.

"Will you be singing today?" Quinn asked and Kurt shook his head – pausing afterwards to fix his hair whilst replying.

"No, I'm feeling super lazy today."

"Is that like normal lazy but you're wearing a cape?" Brittany asked causing Quinn to chuckle "I'm serious."

Quinn abruptly stopped laughing.

"Oh… no. It means super as an expression of great magnitude." Quinn answered.

"I don't know what that means, but thanks anyway, Winnie." Brittany sighed with a helpless shrug to accompany it.

"My name's Quinn." corrected the smaller blonde.

"Oh my gosh, Qunnie the Pooh – that's adorkable." Mercedes exclaimed.

"Quinn – okay, cool. I thought it was strange, you didn't sound Canadian." Brittany nodded slowly and whispered 'Quinn' to herself three times in order to get it right next time. Kurt, Mercedes and Artie all looked utterly lost but Quinn smiled in response to Brittany.

"You're right, I lived in Westerville – not Winnipeg," Quinn said before turning to the other three "it's in Canada."

The trio "oh"-ed and turned back to their work.

Quinn looked away from Brittany and her eyes met Santana's, who was once again glaring in her direction. Quinn quickly looked down at her work again, trying to ignore the tingle that came with having eyes watching your every move.

She was so focussed on trying to concentrate on the sheet in front of her that she nearly didn't notice the screwed up ball of paper which landed on the desk in front of her. Quinn frowned and looked around.

Santana had finally turned away to look at the teacher, Sam was drawing what looked to be an Avatar in his book, Mike was subtly head-banging to his iPod and then she made eye contact with Puck who was looking expectantly at her. He nodded to the paper.

"Eyes forward, Mr Puckerman." Mrs Hagberg grumbled, causing Puck to look away.

Quinn made sure Kurt wasn't sneaking a peek before she grabbed the paper and opened it.

_You'd look hot in a swimsuit. Join the swim team? _

Quinn raised an eyebrow and simply folded the paper up and slipped it into her folder as the bell rang, ending the lesson.

Quinn walked out as quickly as she could, but apparently it wasn't quick enough as Puck slung his arm over her shoulders and proceeded to walk her down the halls.

"Hey girl, looking fine." Puck ran his eyes up and down her body and Quinn could practically feel the slime left on her body over the where his eyes had glanced over.

Quinn attempted to slide out of his grasp but he only pulled her back tighter.

"What is it that you require?" Quinn asked with a huff.

"Damn, are you all loquastic like Rachel?" Puck replied with a contorted expression.

"Loquacious."

"Whatever," Puck scoffed "I just wanted to get you on the swim team – actually, I want to get you on my-"

"I'm going to stop you right there," Quinn interjected quickly "no."

"Can you not swim? It's okay, we have armbands." Puck assured dumbly.

"I _can_ swim; I just don't _want _to swim on your team." Quinn retorted.

"Why not? We're epic!" Puck moaned as Quinn successfully removed herself from his grip and walked a couple of steps ahead "and I thought you were friends with Rachel – she's the co-captain."

Quinn suddenly stopped causing Puck to whack into her back.

"I'll consider it." Quinn replied quickly.

So many images of Rachel in a swimsuit were popping into her mind and making it impossible for her to resist from joining.

"Sweet," Puck grinned and slung his arm over Quinn's shoulder once again "seeing as we're both heading to Glee now, I'll walk you."

"Fantastic." mumbled Quinn.

"Now, how about you let the Puckersaurus show you around this small town. I'll show you some things which are definitely not small…"

"No," Quinn quickly leapt out of Puck's grip again "I'm not interested – at all."

"Is this because of Na'avi boy?" Puck sighed "cos he's got no game… and lady lips."

Quinn didn't want to tell him just how much she'd like lady lips so instead said:

"No, it's because I've met guys like you. I've been with guys like you before. You're douche bags and I've had enough of douche bag guys. Trust me." Quinn told him sternly.

Puck for his part looked a little hurt and ashamed before a smirk returned to his lips.

"You'll soon want up on this, call me when you do." Puck winked and strolled into the choir room.

Quinn hadn't even realised that they'd reached it already and a sudden wave of nerves crashed over her, overwhelming the anxious blonde.

"It'll be fine, Barbie Girl." Mercedes said as she patted Quinn's shoulder "if you're as good as Rachel said you are then you should be fine."

"What did Rachel say?" Quinn asked quickly – the nerves coming on tenfold.

"She said that she thought you had a lovely voice, she said some other stuff about tone and vocal abilities but I tend to zone out after twenty seconds of a Berry rant. But it was all good – I'm sure." replied Mercedes with a reassuring smile.

Quinn suddenly felt all nerves wash away and a sense of peace overtook her.

"Okay – let's do this." Quinn let Mercedes link their arms and lead her into the room.

They appeared to be the last ones to arrive.

"Quinn! How nice of you to join us! Are you going to audition?" Mr Schue asked excitedly.

"Yeah, if that's alright." Quinn responded with a small smile.

"Yes! That's great! Take it away!" Mr Schue clapped her excitedly on the back, causing her to stumble slightly but she moved to the centre of the room and looked over the group in front of her.

Kurt, Mercedes and Artie were all smiling positively and mouthing 'good luck'. Sam was giving her two thumbs up. Puck had his leering gaze directed a bit lower than her face but she didn't really care.

Finn was looking constipated and generally uninterested as he kept glancing over to Rachel. Mike and Tina were holding hands but were at least giving her their full attention. Brittany was bouncing slightly in her seat in anticipation, smiling broadly at Quinn.

Santana was snarling faintly at the sight of Brittany looking so excited and also at the fact that Rachel was flashing Quinn an award winning grin.

Santana looked to Quinn and barely hesitated before crossing her arms protectively and shuffling closer to Rachel; a warning.

Quinn wondered for a second if she was really that obvious.

"Whenever you're ready." Mr Schue said encouragingly making Quinn realise that she'd been silently keeping them hanging on for a minute.

She quickly nodded to the band and let the music start up.

She appropriately sang _Beth _– the song she'd named her daughter after. The douche bag that knocked her up had been a massive KISS fan and once she'd heard it 7 months into her pregnancy, she couldn't shake the name out of her head.

She cried after twenty seconds.

Kurt, Mercedes and Artie cried after forty, knowing exactly who she was singing about from their coffee meet the previous afternoon.

After one minute Tina and Brittany were crying, just because they could see how much the song meant to and was affecting her.

Quinn swore she could see Sam ducking his head halfway through the song but his shaking shoulders were a giveaway to his current state. Puck had tears in his eyes at least and she could tell he felt a little bit worse about coming onto her earlier. Finn had a sympathetic frown on his lips and Mike was delicately wiping Tina's tears away.

Santana was sat poker faced, no emotions shown in the slightest. Rachel, however, had started crying exactly one second after Quinn had.

The song ended and there was silence in the room except for the sniffing back of many tears. Kurt leapt up from his seat and enveloped a shaky Quinn in his arms.

"You are _so _strong, Quinn, not just for singing that song but for what you did. Never forget that," Kurt whispered to her "I'm proud of you, Blondie."

"Wow," Mr Schue stood, rubbing his hands together slowly "that was emotional. I think every one of us could tell how much that meant to you."

Kurt pulled away from Quinn but kept one arm around her back. Quinn only nodded in response.

"I think we just found ourselves a new member!" declared the teacher as he planted his hand on her shoulder and squeezed tightly.

Mercedes, Sam and Brittany all stood and clapped. Artie just remained seated – obviously – but hollered all the same. Rachel looked prepared to rise also, but a death grip on her arm at the hands of Santana kept her back, who was very unenthusiastically clapping her free hand against her thigh.

Kurt led Quinn to the seat next to him where Mercedes, now re-seated gave her a side hug and handed her a tissue.

The rest of the session featured Finn singing a fairly embarrassingly sickening version of _Animal _very pointedly to Rachel who was whispering quiet words to a livid Santana whilst her eyes flickered over to a very dangerous looking Puck.

Quinn sat in amazement. Just how many other people were equally as enamoured with Rachel Berry as she was?

At the end, Santana sprang from her seat and in seconds had Finn in a headlock.

"Back. The. Hell. OFF!" barked Santana, squeezing Finn's head until it went bright red.

"San! Let him go!" shrieked Rachel causing Santana to release Finn instantly.

Finn for his part looked equally annoyed, terrified and constipated so mumbled an apology and went back to his seat.

"She'll never want you or your puffy pyramid nipples, Finnocence, so back off." hissed Santana threateningly.

Quinn was sure that being insulted by an angry Santana Lopez was evenly as bad as staring into the eyes of Medusa.

"Okay, um, that's enough for today guys. See you tomorrow." Mr Schue quickly strolled out of the room, having stayed out of the conflict, extremely used to Santana nearly murdering anyone who came within an inch of Rachel – except Puck of course.

Everybody grabbed their bags and walked out just as quickly except for Quinn who was left with a patiently waiting Rachel.

When the blonde looked up from her bag and found Rachel stood in front of her, she jumped back in surprise.

"Sorry for scaring you, I just wanted to have a word." Rachel said sadly.

"You didn't scare me, you just surprised me," Quinn stood from her seat "what's up?"

"I just wanted to say that your performance was outstanding, really. And that's a big compliment coming from me – honestly, ask the others. I just… I could see that it meant a lot to you, the song… does it?" Rachel remarked shyly.

Quinn hesitated and Rachel nodded slowly.

"Right, I'm sticking my nose in, sorry." Rachel sighed and turned away but Quinn quickly reached out and held her arm to stop her.

"No – its fine," Quinn assured "it does mean a lot to me."

"Well, maybe once we know each other better you'll tell me why. But for now I can only guess." Rachel smiled and turned around again only for Quinn to pull her back once more.

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something too," Quinn told her "Puck asked me to join the swim team and I think I might do it." Rachel squealed and hugged Quinn tightly.

"Oh my gosh, that's amazing!" exclaimed an enthused Rachel "we needed more swimmers and now I get to see you more too!"

Quinn let out a small growl of disapproval when Rachel pulled away and hoped that the smaller girl hadn't noticed.

"We meet on Friday's after school," informed Rachel "this is so exciting!"

"Rach!" A new voice called from the door.

Both girls turned and saw Santana leaning against the door frame.

"You're supposed to wait on the bleachers during Cheerio's, remember what Mom said?" Santana said, holding out her hand in the tiny brunette's direction. Rachel smiled back.

"Of course," Rachel turned back to Quinn "I'll see you tomorrow. Have a nice evening."

Rachel gave her a small wave before skipping over and walking out with Santana. Quinn watched them leave as a dejected sigh escaped her lips.

Quinn walked to the door when she heard Santana and Rachel talking, obviously having not gone far.

She paused, listening intently.

"Where the hell did you go at lunch today?" hissed Santana.

"To the auditorium with Quinn." replied Rachel with a sigh.

"That new All American Princess?" snapped Santana and Quinn rolled her eyes from inside the choir room "I thought we had an agreement! You have to tell me if you're not going to be in the choir room at lunch where I can see you! You have to tell me where you're going and who you're going to be with!"

Quinn's eyes widened, Santana was just like an extremely overbearing parent.

"I'm sorry, San. But she said I could help her with music and you know how I get." Rachel mumbled in response.

"Yeah, I know, Rach. But we have to be careful, remember. You don't know this Quinn girl." Santana told her softly.

"She's nice, San! _And_ Sam told me that you whacked her this morning."

"I'm not apologising. I'm just looking out for you!" Santana sighed "you know how I don't like seeing you hurt."

"I know. But trust me, Quinn's a good person." Rachel insisted.

"I'll work that out for myself – but for now, just be careful. For me?"

"Of course."

Quinn peeked her head out of the choir room and saw the two sisters hugging tightly.

"Right, now I've gots to get ready for Cheerio's." Santana let go and took a step back.

"I'll be on the bleachers."

"Good, Hobbit." Santana ruffled Rachel's hair, causing the smaller girl to groan.

Santana laughed and walked in the direction of the locker rooms. Rachel walked into the nearest bathroom to fix her hair.

Quinn walked out of the choir room with a multitude of questions swirling around her mind. She remembered what Kurt had said the day before:

_'Same mom, different dads I heard… I'm too scared to really ask though, stuff's happened to that family…' _

Quinn decided to work on two things: 1, get closer to Rachel Berry and 2, in the process, find out what happened to that family.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks for all the favourites, alerts and reviews. The next chapter shouldn't be too far away... Anyway, review if you have a spare second.**


	3. Chapter 3: The Slushie Assault

**A/N: For clarification: Santana, Brittany, Finn, Puck, Tina and Mike are seniors. Rachel, Quinn, Artie, Kurt, Mercedes and Sam are juniors.**

* * *

Part three:

Wednesday morning found Quinn entering McKinley High to find Rachel waiting at her locker once again but this time, Santana was begrudgingly stood next to her.

Quinn gulped and walked over to the pair.

"Hi Quinn!" Rachel greeted with a beam at Santana rolled her eyes.

"Hey Rachel, Santana," Quinn nodded to Santana who only nodded back after a nudge in the ribs from her half-sister "what's up?"

"Santana has something to say." Rachel replied, looking pointedly at Santana who rubbed her temples before huffing.

"Sorry for whacking your skinny ass yesterday, it was an accident," Santana mumbled and Rachel grinned "can I go now, Rach?"

"Yes! Have a nice day!" Rachel hugged her sister quickly.

"You're going straight to your class with Princess Peach at the bell, right?" Santana questioned sternly and Rachel nodded.

"Like I always do,"

"Good, see you at lunch." Santana gave Quinn a warning glare before walking away.

"Is she always that strict with your whereabouts?" Quinn asked as Rachel turned to face her fully.

"Yeah… that's just her nature though. She's protective."

Rachel shrugged as Quinn opened her locker.

"Doesn't it get irritating?"

"I don't know. I love her. I like knowing she's going to be there for me and that she cares about me… but I wish she'd stop babying me sometimes. I'm not that kid anymore," Rachel muttered, before realising she'd said too much and shook her head quickly "forget I said that."

"I thought we said we were going to get to know each other?" Quinn stated and Rachel looked down.

"We are… just not that. I don't talk about that with anyone," Rachel shut her eyes for three seconds, counting them down before reopening her eyes and putting on her show smile as the bell rang "come on, let's go."

"Yeah, wouldn't want to break your promise."

Quinn shut her locker and let Rachel link their arms as they walked to their lesson.

* * *

"What happened to Rachel's family?" Quinn asked as she sat next to Kurt in English later that day.

"That's the thing, we don't know. No one does except the members of that family." Kurt shrugged.

"It's true," Brittany added from Quinn's other side "I've been trying to get it out of Santana for years, but she just gets really closed off and says "don't" It's a really bad subject for them."

"But surely we know something!" Quinn exclaimed.

"Well, we know that they've different fathers and that neither is around," Mercedes turned around to join the conversation "they moved to Lima six years ago, when Rachel was ten and Santana eleven, no one knows a thing about what happened and they keep it that way."

"I thought you said that Puck was their cousin, does he know?" Quinn questioned.

"He does. Santana, Rachel and their mom moved to be closer to his side of the family. All we know is that something bad happened when they were in New York and they packed up and came here." Artie joined in. Quinn bit her lip and frowned.

"Guys, we shouldn't talk about this. San and Puck are in this classroom." Brittany muttered.

The four others nodded and turned back to her work though Quinn couldn't concentrate.

She knew it wasn't her place – she'd known the girl for three days – but she couldn't help that curious side of her that wanted to know what happened to Rachel, Santana and their family and she wanted to know soon.

* * *

Upon exiting the English room, Quinn and Kurt were met with ice cold slushies to the face.

Quinn gasped as the freezing liquid dripped down the front of her dress and stuck in her hair.

"Welcome to the Glee Club, Loser!" a large, burly black football player declared before roaring with laughter and high fiving another footballer.

"That was not called for Azimio! Nor from you Karofsky" snapped Kurt as he wiped the slushie from his eyes and glared at them "she's been here three days!"

"And she's been in the Glee Club for one, so she's classed under loser in our books already," Karofsky sneered.

"Shame, seeing as she's hot." Azimio replied, looking the blonde up and down "girl, you should really consider dropping the No Directions and getting in on the Cheerio's."

"Go!" Brittany barked at them as she emerged from the room behind Quinn and Kurt.

Azimio and Karofsky nodded and ran away quickly. Mercedes sighed sympathetically as she took Quinn's hand and led her to the bathrooms as Artie followed Kurt.

"I'm sorry, Barbie Girl." Mercedes told her as they entered an empty bathroom.

"They throw slushies in people's faces here? Is that a thing?" Quinn huffed as Mercedes pulled out a bag from her backpack.

"Yeah, it's a treatment all the losers get," Mercedes replied "we carry clean-up kits around with us. You never know when they're going to hit you with one. You could go without for two weeks and then get three in a day."

Mercedes got out a towel and wet it.

"Get that metal chair over there and set it down in front of this sink, I'll do your hair."

Quinn followed instruction and settled herself down on the seat as Mercedes began cleaning her off.

Quinn shut her eyes to keep both water and slushie out of it, so she only heard it when the door swung open and light feet walked across the ground towards them.

"I'll take it from here, Mercedes. I think Kurt might need a little help in the other room, Artie's height difference is putting them at a disadvantage." Rachel said softly and Quinn heard Mercedes walk away and out of the room, followed by the closing of the door.

Quinn then felt Rachel's gentle hands washing the slushie out of her hair.

"There, I think I got all of it. Don't open your eyes yet, I'm going to clean it off of your face," Rachel told her before Quinn felt a wet towel wiping the cold corn syrup away "okay, you can open your eyes now."

Quinn opened her eyes to find Rachel bent in close to her and immediately felt her breath hitch.

Rachel stood up straighter and placed the towel on the side.

"Your eyes will only sting for half an hour approximately," the tiny brunette informed before she bit her lip "I'm so sorry they did this to you, Quinn."

"Its fine," the blonde mumbled with a shrug "do they throw drinks at you too?" Rachel shook her head.

"They used to. I got the slushie treatment for quite a while. I kept it a secret from San; I didn't want her to do anything stupid. But after a couple of months, she walked in on the clean up and got angry. I don't know exactly what she did, but they haven't slushied me since." Rachel replied as she wrung her hands together.

"Santana's in the Glee club, doesn't she get slushied?"

"No, she and Brittany are exempt because they're still Cheerios – and, well, Santana's terrifying." Rachel let out a small chuckle "I asked Brittany to get you some spare clothes; she'll be here in a minute."

"Thank you," Quinn sighed "I guess I should start getting used to this unless I want to join the cheer team. That guy… Azimio or something – he told me I should join."

"Are you going to?" questioned Rachel and Quinn shook her head.

"No. I was a cheerleader at my last school for a while – head cheerleader in fact. But… things happened and I was thrown off the team and to the bottom of the social heap," Quinn shrugged "being a cheerleader doesn't get you friends, it gets you followers and I hated that."

At that moment, Brittany entered the room.

"Hey guys. I brought you some clothes I keep in the back of my car." Brittany handed over a t-shirt and a skirt and Quinn smiled thankfully at her.

"Thank you, Brittany." Quinn said as she took the clothes and stood from the chair.

Quinn stepped into a stall and quickly changed into the clothes which were just about a good enough fit.

Quinn exited the stall to find only Rachel still stood there, having cleaned up Mercedes' clean up kit.

"You didn't have to wait for me." Quinn told her and Rachel waved it off.

"Its fine, you look lovely," Rachel commented "Brittany took your dress to put into the Cheerio's dry cleaner."

"I'll have to thank her later." the blond said as she moved closer to Rachel.

"I should probably go. I'll have a word with Santana, see if she can try and get the guys to back off." Rachel told her as she picked up her bag.

"Right, I'll see you later then." Quinn replied before Rachel wrapped her arms around her and hugged her tightly.

Quinn responded quickly and slid her arms around Rachel's shoulders. It was longer than most normal hugs but Quinn was still disappointed when Rachel moved away.

Rachel held her hand up as a small wave and walked out of the bathroom.

* * *

When Quinn exited the bathroom a little while later she was met with the sight of Sam leaning against the wall.

"Hi, Sam." she greeted pleasantly as he pushed off of the wall and walked beside her.

"Hey, Quinn… I heard you got slushied, I'm real sorry." Sam said sympathetically.

"It's alright – I mean, it felt like getting bitch slapped by an iceberg but I guess I should get used to it."

"So you're not quitting Glee?" Sam asked and Quinn shook her head.

"It's going to take more than a pair of Neanderthals to get me to quit." Quinn replied and Sam sighed in relief.

"Awesome, I really wasn't prepped to do a big 'please come back' speech." Sam chuckled.

"Don't they ever slushie you?" Quinn asked.

"Not whilst I'm wearing this." Sam shook the collar of his letterman jacket as they turned the corner to find Rachel resting back against her locker with Finn leaning on one hand against the locker above her head.

Quinn felt her blood boil. Sure, she'd only known Rachel three days but she knew that she liked her.

Heck, Rachel Berry was the most beautiful girl she'd ever seen.

"I wouldn't do that if I were him." Sam mumbled, as he caught what Quinn was looking at.

"Do you think she likes him?" Quinn asked sharply. Sam eyed her for a moment before replying.

"Doesn't matter, Santana would never allow it. Not only does she despise Finn but also anyone who even tries to ask out or flirt with Rachel." Sam replied.

"I heard you tried." Quinn commented dryly and Sam held his hands up in mock-surrender.

"I only joined beginning of last year! I didn't know the rule!" Sam defended "I soon did after she chased me with a baseball bat."

"Wow…" Quinn exhaled heavily as they walked past Rachel and Finn.

The tiny brunette let her eyes flicker away from Finn's and they met Quinn's. Rachel gave her a small wave before returning to her conversation.

"Shit!" Sam exclaimed suddenly.

"What is it?" Quinn asked quickly.

"Santana, twelve o'clock." Quinn looked ahead and saw Santana turn into the corridor with Brittany.

The cheerleader looked away from Brittany for a second and her eyes immediately latched onto the form of Finn Hudson standing close to her half-sister.

Quinn could see the fury rising in Santana as she quickly made her excuses to Brittany and stormed over to Finn.

"Dude, run!" Sam hissed quickly.

Finn turned away from Rachel with a frown, ready to snap back at Sam when he saw Santana stomping his way.

"Crap!" squeaked Finn, looking back to Rachel quickly "I'll see you later."

The quarterback only just managed to run away in time to escape Santana's wrath. Rachel jumped in Santana's way just as Finn turned the corner.

"What the fuck was he doing talking to you?" growled Santana angrily.

"He's a friend, we were just talking about Glee." Rachel replied.

"Talking about Glee my ass!" snapped Santana "I've told you that you shouldn't talk to him!"

"And I've told you and I'll tell you again, that I can talk to whomever I want!" Rachel huffed in reply.

The sibling feud didn't garner much attention as next period began. However, Sam, Brittany and Quinn stood and watched, just in case they needed to step in to prevent bloodshed.

"No you can't! Not asses like Finn, not any of those stupid guys who leer your way and not anyone we don't know! I'm just trying to keep you safe, Rach!" shouted Santana.

"I know you are, but this is my life. I can't live it properly if I have you constantly breathing down my neck!" retorted Rachel.

"I'm looking out for you! You're my sister and I don't want to see any harm done to you! Not again!" Santana paused to compose herself, realising they weren't alone and continued with a calmer voice "I just don't want you to date any of those loser guys, you're worth so much more."

"I won't date Finn." Rachel replied, her voice lowering in noise lever also.

"Good, he's an ass." Santana chuckled, feeling all tension leave her body.

"I know." chuckled Rachel before Santana pulled her into a hug.

"Yey! We're all happy again!" Brittany squealed before wrapping her arms around both sisters.

* * *

When Quinn returned home, she found Judy funnily enough watching _Judge Judy_ much to her amusement.

"Hey, Mom." Quinn greeted as she flopped down on the sofa next to her mother.

"Hi, Sweetheart. How was your day?" Judy asked, not tearing her eyes away from the television.

"Not bad," Quinn replied with a shrug.

She decided not to mention the slushie to her mother and just hoped that the older Fabray didn't notice that she wasn't wearing her own clothes.

"I haven't really had a chance to talk about how your new start's going. How is it?" Judy asked and Quinn shrugged again.

"It's okay." Quinn told her and Judy rolled her eyes.

"I'm going to need a little more than that. Have you made many friends?"

"Yeah…"

"Care to drop any names?" Judy prompted and Quinn sighed.

"Well, on my first day the guidance councillor, Miss Pillsbury…"

"Quinnie, if the only friend you've made is a teacher, I'd be extremely worried." Judy interjected, causing Quinn to laugh.

"No, Mom! I was going to say that she introduced me to this girl called Rachel. She's my friend now. Rachel's… amazing," Judy raised an eyebrow but Quinn didn't even notice "she's a singer and her voice is like _wow _and she's head of the Glee and Swim clubs. And she really nice and she's super tiny but really cute and… um… yeah, she asked me to join the Glee club, which I did and I've sort of become friends with a lot of the people there. I went for coffee with three of them that Rachel introduced me to, a gay guy called Kurt, and a really gossipy girl called Mercedes and Artie who's in a wheelchair. Also there's Sam, who is totally crushing on Mercedes and he's a big nerd but also a football player and he helped me pick up my books yesterday. And there's this really crass guy called Puck who's Rachel's bro and he roped me into joining the swim team too. Oh, and there's a really sweet girl called Brittany who's a cheerleader, she's kinda innocent but super nice. And then there's Santana, who's the biggest bitch in school but happens to be Rachel's half-sister and beats up anyone that makes advances at her which is totally unfair and something happened to-"

"Quinnie!" Judy interrupted her daughter's rant "I get it."

"Oh, sorry, Mom." Quinn smiled sheepishly.

"So this Rachel girl, are you going to ask her out or what?" Judy asked causing Quinn's jaw to smash through the floorboards.

"W-wh-wha?"

"Oh, does she not like you back?" Judy sighed sadly "I don't see how she couldn't, you're beautiful."

"Mom!" Quinn choked out "h-how?"

"Come on, Quinnie, you said her name a billion times in that rant of yours and you called her _amazing _and _wow_." Judy told her with a chuckle and Quinn continued to gape at her "it's so obvious that you like her."

"A-and you're okay with that?"

"Of course. Honey, I'm not your father. I know I used to follow his stupid stuck up attitude and his out of date views. But not anymore. And if you love a girl, then you love a girl. There's nothing I can do about it, so I might as well accept it." Judy replied and Quinn grinned and pulled her mother into a tight hug.

"But seriously, Sweetheart," Judy said as they separated "are you going to ask her out or not?"

"Not."

"But why ever not?" Judy queried with a frown.

"One, no, I do not think she likes me. She's probably one hundred percent straight. And two, did I not mention Santana? The spawn of the devil half-sister who murders anyone who looks at Rachel funny!" explained Quinn and Judy sighed.

"I think this Santana girl needs to learn to back off and I think you need to be braver! Just tell this girl that you like her. And tell Beelzebub's sidekick that it's going to happen whether she likes it or not!" Judy exclaimed and Quinn smiled proudly at her mother.

"Thanks, Mom. But I really don't think so," Quinn said with a shrug "anyway; I've only known her for three days!"

"Who cares? Love at first sight and all!" Judy enthused and Quinn rolled her eyes.

"I'll think about it." Quinn compromised and Judy nodded slowly before turning her attention back to the television.

"Alright, but tell me more about Rachel."

"Well…"

* * *

Just after they'd finished dinner, they were watching more re-runs of _Judge Judy _when there was a knock at the door.

Judy didn't move a muscle and Quinn rolled her eyes.

"I'll get it then." she huffed.

"Thanks, Sweetheart." Judy replied as she patted Quinn's arm, not taking her eyes off of the television.

Quinn stood and made her way to the door. She swung it open and recoiled slightly when she saw who was there.

"S-Santana?" Quinn gulped "w-what are you doing here? How did you get my address?"

Santana shrugged.

"I gots people," Santana reached into her bag and grabbed a dress before flinging it at Quinn who had to quickly tear it off of her face "I told Britts that I'd bring it over. All the colourings come out."

Quinn looked at the dress in her hands and it was the one she'd been slushied in, now fully cleaned.

"Thanks."

"Ew, no. Don't thank me. Really, don't." Santana told her sternly "I just offered to bring it over, one, because Britts gets lost easy and I didn't want to have to get a call in the middle of the night to come and pick her up from walking down the middle of the street in Fort Wayne… again. And two, I wanted to have a little chat with you, Princess Peach."

"O-okay…" Quinn stuttered slightly. Santana squared her shoulders and stepped closer.

"I don't know who the hell you are and frankly I don't really care. But I'd appreciate it, if you'd leave my sister alone." sneered the Cheerio as she crossed her arms and leant in.

"Why? Rachel's my friend." Quinn retorted as she straightened up.

"I don't care! She's _my _sister and until I've worked out just what you're up to by trying to get close to her, I'd appreciate it if you just left her alone. Actually, I'd like it a lot better if you just left town… or the state. I don't really care. Just stay away from Rachel, got it?"

Santana didn't wait for an answer, just turned and walked down the path.

Quinn shut the front door and turned to where Judy was stood leant against the living room doorframe.

"So that was the devil's advocate?" Judy asked and Quinn nodded, a determined look in her eye "Quinnie? What's going on in that head of yours?"

"I just made up my mind. You're right, Mom, if I like Rachel then I shouldn't let Santana hold me back. It's time to be brave." Quinn told her decidedly before turning and walking up the stairs.

"There's my daughter." Judy chuckled before returning to watch her favourite show.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry this chapter's not as long as the others have been, but I'm trying to keep it so that for Quinn's first week at McKinley, it's a chapter per day and some are more eventful than others. After this week, the others will be more sporadic. Thanks for your lovely reviews and to everyone who's reading.**


	4. Chapter 4: The Garbage Coffee

Part four

Thursday came soon enough, bringing with it Quinn's fourth day at McKinley High School.

Quinn entered the school alongside Mercedes, in the middle of an in-depth discussion about Mercedes' latest crush.

"Why don't you just ask Sam out?" Quinn asked and Mercedes looked at her as though she'd grown a second head.

"You don't just _tell_a guy that you like them!" Mercedes exclaimed with wide eyes "that's suicide – especially with a hot guy like Sam."

"If you don't tell him that you like him, how will he ever know?" Quinn pointed out and Mercedes visibly hesitated before shaking her head.

"No, asking out a football player like Sam and getting rejected would be humiliating. I'd rather just admire him from afar and not get my heartbroken," Mercedes explained and Quinn felt bad for her friend "anyway, Barbie Girl, anyone you have your eye on?"

Mercedes nudged Quinn's arm with a wink and Quinn rolled her eyes.

"Hi, Quinn!" Rachel greeted cheerfully as she passed by "hey, Mercedes."

"H-hi, Rachel," Quinn returned, her eyes following the tiny brunette until she was out of sight before turning back to Mercedes with a small smirk which she failed to hide "no, there's no one."

"Shame, I bet you'll have the guys queuing to ask you out." Mercedes teased as she bumped their shoulders together.

At that moment, Santana walked up to them and stood in front of them, blocking their way.

"Hey, Fabray." Santana sneered.

"What?" Quinn replied carefully.

Santana handed her a takeaway coffee.

"Try this coffee and tell me what it tastes like." Santana instructed and Quinn took the offered coffee, sharing a look with Mercedes.

"Okay," Quinn took a sip and thinks "um, Almond?"

"I don't know I found it in the garbage." Santana shrugged before walking away with a cackle.

"That was not on." Mercedes huffed as she looked at Santana's retreating form.

"Urgh, that's gross." Quinn gagged before spotting Finn "hey! Finn, right?"

"Yeah, hey," Finn turned and greeted with a lopsided smirk "you gonna finish that coffee?"

"No, you can have it." Quinn handed it to the tall boy and he grinned.

"Thanks!" Finn exclaimed before walking away, smiling like he'd just won the lottery.

"That's right, drink the garbage coffee." Quinn muttered and Mercedes snorted.

"Damn, girl," Mercedes chuckled "I can't believe you gave him Santana's trash coffee."

"I've been here four days and I already find him annoying." Quinn replied with a smile as they then headed to class.

* * *

At lunchtime in the choir room, Quinn found herself sat next to Rachel. On one hand, this was extremely good as she just couldn't quite help but stare at the girl all day long. However, she knew that this would seriously distract her from any type of conversation.

Quinn looked over her shoulder and saw Santana talking to Brittany, but still glaring at her. Quinn smirked and turned back to Rachel.

"Hey, I know we have swim practise after school tomorrow," Quinn started "but I was wondering if you'd like to hang out after that."

Rachel paused to think.

"Um," Rachel hesitated "I'm not sure…"

"Well, there's this art exhibition that I've been dying to go to – it was in this leaflet Miss Pillsbury gave me, but I thought it'd be cool if we went together. So we can try this whole getting to know each other thing." Quinn suggested and a small smile crept onto Rachel's lips.

"Yes, okay. I'd love that." Rachel accepted and turned to face Puck when he tapped her shoulder.

"What are you up to?" Kurt questioned from his seat on the other side of her.

"We said we'd get to know each other and so…"

"No, not that. Yesterday you said that Satan threatened you and now you're shoving it right back in her face! Are you trying to get yourself killed?" Kurt hissed, leaning in so Santana wouldn't hear.

"I'm Quinn fucking Fabray! And I can to what I like." Quinn told him resolutely.

"But trying to mess with Santana Lopez, that's like playing with fire! You don't know her and you don't know what she's capable of!" Kurt replied "she will tear you apart in the blink of an eye!"

"My mom told me to be brave and backing down in the face of Santana, is definitely not brave." Quinn said and Kurt sighed.

"Fine, do what you like. But please, just watch your back." Kurt implored and Quinn nodded.

"Okay, I will."

"I'll be back in a minute." Rachel whispered to Quinn before standing up and stepping down off the risers to where Finn was stood and they began walking to the door.

"Hey!" Santana barked, standing up quickly causing the pair to turn around "where are you going?"

"We're just stepping outside; we'll be in the corridor." Rachel replied with a sigh.

"I'll come with you." Santana said.

The rest of the choir room was silent as they watched what was happening.

"Why don't you just butt out, Satan?" Finn huffed causing Santana to growl.

"You shut up!" Santana shouted at him before turning back to Rachel "what about what we said yesterday?"

"We never said I couldn't hang out with him," Rachel pointed out.

"Well I'm saying it now!"

"You're being unreasonable!" Finn interjected once again.

"Shut the fuck up, Frankenteen!" Santana screamed.

"I think you should calm down, San. We'll talk later, I promise." Rachel told her gently before following Finn out of the room.

"I fucking hate that prick!" Santana growled as she slumped back in her seat.

* * *

That afternoon, the group were gathered in the choir room once again for Glee, where Mr Schue bounced in five minutes late.

"Hey guys!" he greeted heartily as he dumped his briefcase down on the piano and clapped his hands together "now, I made a little PowerPoint presentation-"

"Good choice." Rachel concurred quietly with a nod.

"Of possible ideas for Sectionals. Finn, can you come and get the projector set up?" Mr Schue called the quarterback forward and Finn lumbered over quickly.

"Really? You're getting Finncompetant to set it up?" Santana sneered and Mr Schue sent her a disapproving look.

Everyone sat in eager silence as Finn set up the projector.

"Alright, almost done." Finn said triumphantly as he plugged a cable into the teacher's laptop.

Suddenly sparks flew out and the computer screen switched to black.

"For fucks sake!" Puck shouted, throwing his hands up in the air.

"Sorry! I just hit the wrong thing!" Finn defended quickly.

"_NO_! EIGHTEEN YEARS AGO YOUR MOM _GAVE BIRTH_ TO THE WRONG THING!" Santana screamed at him.

"San!" Rachel scolded quickly as Finn looked like he was going to cry.

"Santana, that was uncalled for!" Mr Schue said angrily "say sorry to Finn."

"Stop trying to make me apologise for stuff that I'm clearly not sorry about." Santana shrugged and leant back in her seat. Quinn watched the Latina in shock.

"San," Rachel mumbled quietly, poking her sister in the shoulder. Santana sighed heavily before turning to look at Finn.

"Fine! Sorry, Finnept." Santana huffed.

"You gotta teach me how to do that!" Puck exclaimed as he looked at Rachel with a grin.

"Shut it, Puckerman." Santana hissed.

"Just sit down, Finn," Mr Schue sighed "we can do the PowerPoint next time."

"So disappointing." Rachel muttered sadly and Quinn smiled warmly at her.

"Anyone have anything to sing?" Mr Schue asked pathetically.

"Always." Rachel spoke up and Mr Schue looked around the room.

"Anyone else?"

"Hey, dude, she just said she had something to sing so let her!" Santana snapped and Mr Schue took a step back.

"Santana, I'd appreciate it if you calmed down or I'll have to ask you to leave the classroom." Mr Schue warned and Santana sat up straighter and crossed her arms.

"And I'd appreciate it if you were not belittling my sister or her talent." Santana retorted.

"I wasn't belittling her…"

"Then let her sing." Quinn finally said boldly.

Everyone's heads quickly snapped around to look at her including an unimpressed Santana and a curious Rachel.

"Quinn, you don't have to. I'm all for equal opportunities…" Rachel said fairly.

"See!" Mr Schue quickly interjected "Quinn, I know you're new here and I don't know how things went down at your last school, but I'm in charge here. Same goes for you Santana, though I've told _you_ this before."

"Man, back off them a bit!" Puck suddenly said from the back of the room and Mr Schue turned his frustrated expression on him.

"Mr Schue, no one else has anything to sing. So why can't Rachel?" Finn asked and Mr Schue deflated.

"Fine, Rachel, you can sing." Mr Schue relented and went to sit at the side in his chair.

"Fucking favouritism!" Santana growled as Rachel stood and went to the front of the room "he has such a hard-on for Finnocence."

Sam and Puck let out laughs and Finn flushed and turned away from his teacher.

Quinn found herself once again mesmerised by Rachel once the tiny brunette opened her mouth and started singing. Quinn wasn't even sure what song it was; she was just transfixed on Rachel. #

She only realised that the song was finished when clapping broke her out of her stupor. Quinn looked around and saw Kurt sending her a knowing smirk and Santana was once again glaring at her.

Rachel sat down next to Quinn with a smile.

"So, did you like it?" Rachel asked and Quinn nodded quickly.

"Y-Yeah, it was great. You're an amazing singer." Quinn complemented and Rachel blushed.

Soon, the club was dismissed once Mr Schue had put them through the painful experience of him rapping once again.

"So, I'll see you tomorrow." Quinn asked coyly to Rachel who smiled softly and nodded.

"Tomorrow."

Rachel walked out of the room and Quinn turned to grab her bag when she saw it dangling from Santana's hand.

"I thought I made my message quite clear yesterday, Peach. Or are you mentally handicapped?" Santana sneered and Quinn rolled her yes.

"I got your 'message' I just didn't care to heed your word." Quinn replied as she reached out for the bag but Santana held it out of reach.

"I'm not done here. I don't like you. And if I don't like you then it means that you have to stay away from Rachel. It's quite simple really." Santana told her.

"I don't want to," Quinn said resolutely "I really don't care for bullies like you, Santana, I've dealt with one too many in my time. Frankly, I feel bad for Rachel for having to live with you."

"Shut up!" Santana suddenly yelled "you don't know anything!"

"I know that you're insanely protective and that if you could then you'd handcuff Rachel to yourself just so you'd know what she was up to at all times. And I also know that Rachel probably won't put up with it for much longer," Quinn told her, finding that old bitch she used to have in her and bringing her to the forefront of her attitude and her words were clearly affecting Santana "and then where will you be?"

Santana seemed to hesitate as those words settled in. At that moment, neither girl noticed Sam standing warily in the doorway.

Santana seemed to relocate her backbone and put back on her glare.

"Fuck you, Quinn Fabray, whoever the fuck you think you are. I will make your life a misery if you don't leave my sister alone," Santana snarled.

"Two words." Quinn said simply.

"I bet they won't be helpful." Santana huffed with a smirk.

"Your problem."

"I was right," Santana threw Quinn's bag to the blonde's feet "watch your back, Princess; I'm not done with you."

"Why don't I just lie on the floor so you can start kicking me?" Quinn retorted sarcastically.

Santana's eyes widened.

"You have that dream too?" Santana questioned and Quinn frowned "you know what, I'll be seeing you, Peach."

Santana jabbed a finger into Quinn's chest before storming out of the door, shoving past Sam.

Quinn picked up her bag and swung it over her shoulders.

"What the hell was that?" Sam asked as he walked towards her quickly.

"Just got into a little disagreement, that's all." Quinn told him with a shrug.

"That wasn't some little disagreement, that's like saying Thor and Loki had a little disagreement!" Sam exclaimed as they began to leave the room.

"I'm Thor right?" Quinn asked with a small smile and Sam rolled his eyes.

"Quinn! Who even was that girl back there? Because she didn't seem a thing like the Quinn I thought I knew." Sam replied and Quinn shrugged.

"I don't know… that was someone I used to be… a long time ago." Quinn mumbled.

"To be honest, I didn't much like her. She seemed a little too much _like _Santana rather than someone opposing her." Sam told her and Quinn bit her lip.

"She just pissed me off."

"I know, she pisses everyone off and everyone pisses her off. But you don't just go starting World War Three with Santana Lopez because you just annoyed," Sam sighed "I know you've probably been told this by Kurt and the others, but just don't mess with Santana because you can. And especially don't use Rachel as a pawn to do it."

"I'm not using Rachel to get at Santana!" Quinn defended "I didn't even care about Santana until she threatened me."

"I get it, okay? I know first-hand what it's like to have Santana out for your blood, but whatever it is that you're getting her so angry for, I sure do hope it's worth it." Sam told her earnestly and Quinn nodded.

"I hope so too," Quinn replied as they exited the front doors "hey, what are you doing tonight?"

Sam paused to think.

"I was just going to play some Mario or something, why?"

"Would you like to hang out? My mom's joined this new book club so won't be back until a bit later _and _I'm on World 7 of Super Mario Brothers and I'm stuck at the castle, mind helping a girl out?" Quinn suggested and Sam grinned.

"Only a lot!" he exclaimed "no funny business though."

"Of course not. Who knows, I might know some ways to help you with your little Mercedes crush." Quinn told him with a smirk and Sam chuckled.

"I think you and I are going to become good friends, Quinn."

* * *

After four hours on Mario, Judy returned to find Quinn and Sam sat on the floor right in front of the television.

"Jump, Quinn! JUMP!" Sam yelled.

"I AM JUMPING!" Quinn screamed back.

"Um, hello?" Judy approached them cautiously and Quinn and Sam jumped and whipped around the face her.

"Mom! You're back early!" Quinn exclaimed as Sam paused the game.

"No I'm not. It's eight o'clock." Judy replied with a raised eyebrow.

"Wow…" Quinn exhaled as she stood and Sam followed quickly.

"Who's this?" Judy asked as she looked at the blonde boy.

"Oh, sorry. Mom, this is Sam Evans. Sam, this is my mom Judy." Quinn introduced and Sam shook the older woman's hand.

"Pleasure to meet you, Miss Fabray." Sam greeted politely.

"Oh please, call me Judy," Judy waved him off "would you like to stay for dinner?"

"Sure, that would be lovely." Sam replied and Judy smiled warmly.

"Well, I'll get started on that. You two, get back to… that." Judy looked to the television where Mario and Luigi were mid-jump.

"Thanks, Mom." Quinn said. Judy nodded as Sam went to pick up his controller and leant into Quinn.

"Huge lips," Judy whispered and Quinn snorted "though, I thought you liked Rachel… and girls for that matter."

"Oh, I do… he's just a friend." Quinn replied quickly, still getting used to the idea that her mom was so accepting of her sexuality.

"Right, well… I'll get dinner ready."

Judy walked to the kitchen and Quinn sat down next to Sam again.

"Your mom's nice." Sam said as they resumed the game "get that box."

"I'm on it," Quinn told him "so, any thoughts on how you're going to tell Mercedes that you like her?"

Mario ran off the edge and into some lava, costing Sam a life as he gaped at Quinn.

"Are you certifiably insane? You don't just _tell_ a girl that you like her! That's suicide, especially with a girl like Mercedes. She'd eat me alive." Sam mumbled and Quinn grinned internally, those two were practically soul mates.

"But if you don't tell her, how will she know you like her?" Quinn queried, repeating what she'd asked Mercedes earlier.

"No, asking out someone as talented as Mercedes and getting rejected would be mortifying. I'd rather not get my heartbroken," Sam sighed and shook his head "anyway; surely someone at McKinley has got you interested?"

"Oh I don't…"

"Tell me!" Sam urged "get that mushroom!"

"Got it!" Quinn replied "and I don't like anyone!"

"You're a terrible liar," Sam chuckled "just tell me, I promise I won't laugh."

"Why would you laugh?"

"In case it's someone like Jacob Ben Israel or Mr Schue…"

"That's gross!" Quinn gagged and Sam laughed "trust me; it's neither of those two."

"So there is someone!" Sam exclaimed triumphantly and Quinn groaned.

"Damn you!"

"Haha! Now you _must _tell me!" Sam insisted and Quinn shook her head.

"Never!" she replied defiantly "watch out!"

"Thanks," Sam muttered, hitting a button repeatedly until he was safe "anyway, if you won't tell me I shall just have to guess like you guessed I liked Mercedes."

"Fine." Quinn grumbled.

"Okay… is it someone in Glee club?" Sam asked.

"Yes," Quinn huffed and Sam smirked.

"Hmmm, that narrows it down," Sam suddenly frowned "tell me it's not Puck!"

"It's not Puck!" assured Quinn and Sam nodded slowly.

"Good, he's a man-whore," Sam replied "fine, is it Finn?"

"Nope, definitely not. I gave him garbage coffee this morning," Quinn said with a laugh and Sam stared at her with wide eyes "what? Santana gave it to me first!"

Sam nodded and turned back to the game.

"Right… is it… Mike?"

"No."

"Not Puck, not Finn, not Mike… not _me_," Sam added teasingly and Quinn laughed again "oh! Artie?"

"Nope." Sam frowned.

"Please tell me it's not Kurt, because he's one hundred percent…"

"Gay, I know. It's not him." Quinn replied with a shake of her head "mushroom!"

"Thank you," Sam said slowly "okay, you're definitely lying to me. I've been through every… guy…" Sam trailed off as his jaw dropped.

He quickly paused the game and shifted to face Quinn fully.

"It's a girl!" he exclaimed and Quinn looked down "holy shit, it is!"

"Yes, but please don't tell that I'm…" Quinn told him urgently and Sam shook his head quickly.

"Of course I won't," Sam reached out and took her hand "just so you know, I'm cool with it. I did go to an all-boys boarding school before McKinley, so I've seen a lot of gay and I just think that love is love, you know."

Quinn smiled as tears sprung to her eyes.

"Just as long as you don't like Mercedes, then we're still gonna be great friends." Sam teased and Quinn laughed as a lone tear escaped.

"No, it's not Mercedes." Quinn sniffed and Sam smiled.

"Good…" he wiped away the single tear "and I'm guessing it's not Santana… oh my God! It's Rachel! That's why you're angry at Santana trying to get you back off! You like Rachel!"

"Yeah, I do," Quinn answered "but please don't tell her… or Santana!"

"I won't, I swear on my life," Sam assured "just know… Santana is going to murder you if she finds out!"

"This is why you can't tell!"

"I know, I know… Gees, talk about some first week," Sam chuckled and Quinn nodded her agreement "who else knows?"

"Kurt… and my mom."

"You told your mom?"

"She guessed. So did Kurt… on my first day." Quinn told him with a slightly shrug.

"Man that boy's on the dot!" Sam exclaimed and Quinn laughed "so, are you going to ask her out?"

"I wasn't going to. At first, I was scared of my mom and stuff, and then she told me that she basically already knew and I wasn't quite so scared anymore. My dad was the more conservative one and he's long gone now. And then Santana told me to stay away from Rachel and my decision was made." Quinn told him and Sam smirked.

"So, you are going after her?"

"Yeah, I think I am."

"Well, who knows? Maybe Quinn Fabray will be the one to finally get Rachel Berry on their arm," Sam winked "wait! This totally makes me your lesbro! I've always wanted a gay best friend!"

"Oh shut it," Quinn giggled and shook her head in amusement before turning serious again "thanks, Sam."

"Hey, it's alright," Sam shifted his position and pulled her into a hug "so, how are you planning to woo Rachel?"

"I'm not going to make any proper move until you do the same with Mercedes."

"Oh, sly!" Sam jested "fine, you got me, Fabray."

They pulled apart and he held out his hand.

"A gentleman's agreement."

"I'm not a gentleman you ass!" Quinn huffed and Sam rolled his eyes.

"Just shake the hand!"

"Fine!" Quinn shook his hand "deal. I'll make a proper move on Rachel only if you make a move on Mercedes."

"Deal," Sam replied before Judy called them for dinner and they both stood. Sam smirked as he looked out of the living room window.

"Look who it is." He nodded outside and Quinn looked in that direction "if it isn't the little girl who Quinnie has a crush on!"

"Shut up!" Quinn hissed, hitting his chest as she spotted Rachel walking with Santana and Brittany down the sidewalk, obviously having been waiting for the pair after cheer practise.

Judy suddenly ran in from the next room.

"Let me see her!" the older woman exclaimed excitedly as she sprinted to the window and looked out "is she the tiny little one? The one with the legs?"

"That's her." Sam smirked and Quinn slapped him arm.

"Oh she is pretty! Let's invite her in!" Judy said, heading to the door already and Quinn rushed to hold her back.

"How about no?" Quinn told her seriously "most definitely not when she's got Santana with her!"

"Urgh, you're such a party pooper!" Judy huffed and turned to Sam "come on, Samuel, I cooked up some pizzas."

"Ooh, yummy!" Sam grinned as he looked at Quinn and followed Judy out of the room.

Quinn rolled her eyes and looked back out of the window to where Rachel, Santana and Brittany were just reaching the end of the street. Quinn smirked, most definitely looking forward to seeing Rachel in a swimsuit and then getting to hang out after that at the art gallery with her.

Tomorrow will be a good day.

* * *

**A/N: Firstly, I'm sorry – I know I didn't upload yesterday or the day before, but Thursday was my sixteenth b-day and so I was kinda celebrating and on that birthday, I got a new laptop – so on Friday I was transferring all my files and re-downloading a lot of software. Therefore I only really got around to writing today. Thanks as always for the lovely reviews and for the story alerts and favourites.**


	5. Chapter 5: The Devil In Polyester

**A/N: Hey, as some of you noticed, there were a couple of references to "Victorious" in my last chapter. During some chapters of different fics, I like to throw in quotes or references to shows as a little game to see if people notice. *P.S I don't think that there are any in this chapter ***

* * *

Part five

Quinn's fifth and final day at McKinley for the week started with bright sunshine, so she decided to walk to school.

On her way, Kurt caught up with her.

"Hey, Blondie," he greeted as he hitched his satchel higher on his shoulder "how are you?"

"I'm great; I have a feeling that today is going to be a good day." Quinn replied.

"Oh… because of your date with Rachel?" Kurt prompted and Quinn rolled her eyes.

"It's not a date. We're just going to an art gallery." she said and Kurt winked.

"Sure," he drawled "just don't pocket call me when you two are doing the nasty in the bathroom."

"Kurt!" Quinn admonished, slapping him on the arm.

"What? Can you blame me for being excited; this is the only juicy thing to happen at McKinley for years!" Kurt exclaimed and Quinn frowned.

"Kurt, please! I don't even know if she likes me… or girls for that matter. And even if she did, Santana will castrate me. So just don't go announcing anything. Especially not about me being… I'm not even sure what I am…" Quinn mumbled and Kurt nodded slowly.

"I'm sorry. I know how confusing all this must be for you, trust me I've been there. It's just… I'm the only out person in Lima, it's hard. So when I figured that you were too… I just got a bit excited that's all." Kurt replied.

"Look, now that my mom knows, I'm not as scared about other people finding out. But I just want to try to get Rachel to like me first before I make any sort of announcement." Quinn explained and Kurt smiled understandingly.

"I get it… but seriously, _don't _pocket dial me."

"Okay," Quinn smiled and shook her head in amusement as they approached McKinley.

Sam spotted them across the parking lot and ran to catch up with them.

"Hey, Quinn, Kurt," he said cheerily "hey, Q, can I come watch your swim practise this evening?" Quinn slapped the blonde boy upside the head and Sam just laughed.

"Kidding, I know you're waving the rainbow flag or whatever." Sam chuckled and Kurt gaped at him.

"How do you know?"

"After a bit of Q and A I realised that our Q likes A certain girl called Rachel," Sam replied "see what I did there?"

"Yes, very amusing." muttered Quinn.

* * *

Quinn was stood at her locker when she felt a shadow cast over her. She turned her head to see Finn leaning against the locker next to hers.

"Hello, Finn," she greeted politely and Finn smirked his lopsided grin at her.

"Hey, Quinn. I was hoping that we could talk," Finn suggested and Quinn nodded for him to go ahead "well, I've seen that you've gotten pretty close to Rachel lately so I was wondering if you could maybe get her to go out with me? She keeps saying that she's not sure, but I know that that's because of Santana, so maybe you could like get her to consider dating me in secret or something?"

Quinn felt her body tense as she glared at the giant next to her.

"No."

"Tha- wait, no?" Finn shook his head to try to comprehend the fact she'd just refused.

"N O spells NO. I won't help you score with Rachel."

Quinn slammed her locker shut and flounced down the hall.

"Thanks," Quinn heard whispered into her ear. She snapped her head to the side to see Puck walking beside her.

"He's been trying to get with Rachel for years now, it's seriously not cool. So thanks for not helping him out," Puck told her and Quinn nodded.

"Well he seems like an ass and Rachel deserves better," Quinn sighed.

"I totally agree with you, Q. Despite what Satan says, I trust you. I don't think you're trying to murder Rachel or anything," Puck trailed off suddenly and rubbed the back of his neck "I should go."

He quickly jogged away in the opposite direction and Quinn tried to comprehend his sudden change in behaviour. She was immediately distracted as Rachel popped up next to her.

"Hey!" That was all it took and once again, Quinn was entranced.

* * *

To say Quinn was positively buzzing for her 'outing' with Rachel would be an understatement. She was just excited at the prospect of getting to know the girl better, hoping to get closer to her.

She tried not to feel a little disheartened every time Santana shoved her or threatened to send Bowser out to get her – she just imagined Rachel as Mario and thought it adorable. When she shared her thoughts with Sam, he laughed hysterically for five minutes straight until he fell over… or she pushed him.

Whatever, logistics.

Santana came along while they were laughing and sneered at them as they were red in the face and wheezing, trying to inhale air.

"Trouty Mouth, Peach," Santana regarded them "I see you've set aside this special time to humiliate yourself in public."

Sam and Quinn straightened up and stopped laughing.

"What do you want, Satan?" Sam asked with a huff.

"Gees, Guppy, you're not really becoming friends with Q-tip are you?" Santana asked with a curled lip.

"Yeah, I am actually. And she's about a million times nicer than you could ever imagine to be!" Sam snapped, jabbing a finger in Santana's direction.

"Thank you. We're all refreshed and challenged by your unique point of view," Santana rolled her eyes "I don't know what your problem is, but I'll bet it's hard to pronounce. I mean, I'm already visualising the masking tape over those gigantic lady lips of yours."

"Santana, you're being incredibly rude." Finn stepped in, having been unsubtly watching the conversation.

"I'm not being rude. You're just insignificant, Finncompetant," Santana said snidely and turned her glare on the tall boy "I'll try being nicer if you'll try being smarter."

Finn's mouth flapped open and closed like a fish out of water, unable to come up with a good comeback.

"B-But still… it's rude!" Finn declared.

"And your cry baby, whiny-butt point is? Look, never mind, I got distracted. I'm trying to imagine you with a personality… or brains… If I throw a stick, will you leave?" Finn just looked confused so Santana turned back to Quinn and growled "Rach told me that you two were hanging out, I thought I told you to leave my sister alone."

"I don't have to do what you say." Quinn retorted and Santana rolled her eyes again.

"Urgh just shut your yapper, Peach. It appears as though your day was just a total waste of makeup… whatever look you were going for, you missed," Santana taunted and immediately froze when she saw Rachel stood next to her with her arms crossed.

"San…"

"Dang it," Santana hissed and clamped her eyes shut "Rach-"

"Apologise." Rachel demanded and Santana breathed in deeply through her nose.

"Rach..."

"Apologise!" Rachel insisted further and they had a stare off before Santana let out a frustrated mini-scream and turned back to Quinn, Sam and Finn.

"Sorry," she muttered "I'm out."

She grabbed Rachel's arm and dragged her down the hallway after her, mumbling something about 'too many freaks and not enough circuses'.

* * *

For lunchtime, as always the Glee club were in the choir room.

Quinn was sat next to Artie whilst Kurt and Mercedes spoke with Mike and Tina, Sam was discussing video games with Puck and Rachel, Santana was speaking closely with Brittany and Finn was slouching on his own.

"Hey, Q, can I ask you something?" Artie asked and Quinn nodded.

"Go ahead." Artie leaned in closer.

"I know you said that you gave Beth away… but… have you seen her? Y'know, since you gave her up?" Artie questioned and Quinn stiffened slightly.

Because the answer was no.

She'd given Beth up for adoption and the new mother had left the state with her and Quinn didn't know where they were now. It broke her heart every single time she thought about Beth now, because she really was just dying to see her little girl, even just a glance.

"No… I can't." Quinn replied, blinking back her tears.

"Oh man, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought it up, I was just thinking and then I said it and I don't know why. I'm so sorry, Quinn." Artie quickly apologised, but Quinn rested her hand over his to silence his rapid speech.

"It's alright; you can ask what you like about it. It's okay…" Quinn assured and Artie bobbed his head slowly.

"Hey, to make you feel better, do you want a ride?" Artie pointed to his lap and then immediately flushed "whoa, not like that! I-I just meant that you could sit and I'd push us about!"

Quinn laughed and shook her head in amusement.

"I got it. I'd like that very much."

"Well then, hop on! Your chariot awaits!" Artie waved his hands extravagantly and Quinn got off of her seat and onto his lap "let's go!"

Artie pushed himself most of the way to the door before Sam caught up with them, took hold of the chair and pushed them out of the room and ran them down the hall.

Quinn was screaming, Artie was whooping and Sam was laughing.

And as they slid around the corner, narrowly missing a group of people – to whom Sam shouted 'gang way!' – Quinn couldn't believe her luck.

She'd thought that Lima would be so extremely dull; she'd thought that she'd have no friends in the slightest and she'd expected to have to hide in the bathroom stalls at lunchtimes again.

But here she was, with new friends like Sam, Artie, Kurt and Mercedes, people to be with at lunch like the Glee club and someone she actually liked, Rachel.

* * *

The afternoon came quicker than Quinn had expected and she was soon meeting with Rachel outside the swimming changing rooms.

"Hey, you found it!" Rachel beamed as she saw the blonde approach "as you can tell, the swimming pool is in a quite a secluded part of the school – stops it getting vandalised _and_ so we don't have to walk most the school in our swimsuits. Which reminds me…"

Rachel reached into her bag and pulled out a McKinley Sharks swimming costume and handed it to Quinn.

"I got you one of the team swimsuits. You have the necessary swim levels to join the team without having to have a trial, so here you are."

Quinn took the suit and saw her surname across the back.

"Wow, thank you." Quinn looked to Rachel and pulled her into a hug.

"No problem, let's get changed."

Quinn gulped and followed Rachel into the changing rooms where four girls were changing already.

"We're a small team." Rachel explained as she put her stuff down on a bench and immediately began changing with no shame.

Quinn averted her eyes quickly, but not quick enough to miss the reveal of Rachel's toned stomach. She swore she saw a small scar on her hip, but Quinn looked away before she looked like she was staring too much.

Quinn quickly changed into her swimsuit and followed Rachel and the four other girls out to the pool where the six boys were already waiting. Quinn had to constantly tear her eyes away from Rachel's ass, which was directly in front of her.

Puck was leering at Quinn unabashedly and winked as she passed.

"Don't you dare, Noah!" Rachel hissed, slapping him upside the head.

Quinn felt a small blush tint her cheeks and tried not to overthink what Rachel had said.

She felt a tap at her shoulder and turned to be face to face with a boy who held out his hand.

"Max, I'm a senior." he greeted and Quinn shook his hand.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Quinn. Junior. Not Quinn Junior, I am a junior." Max burst out laughing and Quinn followed.

"FISHER!" Rachel blew a whistle and Max jumped "leave the girl alone and get in the water!"

Max grinned at Quinn before throwing himself into the water.

Rachel sidled up to Quinn and bumped her shoulder.

"He wasn't bothering you, was he?" Rachel asked and Quinn shook her head.

"No, just me making a fool of myself… again." Quinn joked and Rachel giggled.

Quinn found her eyes drifting lower and resolutely looked straight up at the ceiling. She was sure she heard Rachel giggle before the smaller girl walked back over to Puck.

The rest of the session went by in a flash, they worked on some under water breathing exercises and endurance.

* * *

"Quinn…" Rachel breathed, shoved up against the shower wall as Quinn attacked her with her lips.

"Quinn!" Rachel then groaned as Quinn bit down on her neck and trailed her hand tantalisingly down her body.

"QUINN!"

Quinn's eyes snapped open, spluttering when water came crashing down on her from the shower head "Quinn! Are you alright in there?"

Quinn blushed even though she knew no one could see her. She pulled her hands away from her body as she heard Rachel call out again.

"Quinn! Are you okay? I heard a noise."

"Yeah, fine. Just stubbed my toe. I'll be out in a minute!" Quinn assured quickly.

"Okay, I'll leave you alone then." Quinn heard Rachel retreating and face palmed.

She quickly finished up, left the shower, dried her hair and got dressed. When she was done, she exited the changing rooms to see Rachel leaning against the wall opposite, playing with her phone.

The tiny brunette looked up and smiled.

"Hey, how's the toe?"

"The wha- OH! The – yes, it's fine thanks." Quinn said quickly. If Rachel knew she was lying, she didn't show it as she moved closer and linked their arms.

"Lead the way to the art exhibition, Miss Fabray!" Rachel declared with a giggle and Quinn could only laugh in return before taking Rachel to her car.

They arrived at the exhibition in no time and were inside quickly enough.

"I feel like we should've dressed up." Rachel mumbled, eyeing Lima's finest who were in turn eyeing the art work.

"You look beautiful," Quinn assured causing Rachel to blush and duck her head. Quinn smiled to herself, hoping that her words at least meant something to Rachel.

"That means a lot," Rachel mumbled as she stopped to look at a modern piece "coming from someone like you." Quinn frowned.

"What do you mean?" Quinn queried.

"It's not a bad thing," Rachel quickly turned around to face the blonde "I mean, you're like the prettiest girl I've ever met," It was Quinn's turn to blush now.

"But I can tell…" Rachel squeezed her arm "you're a lot more than that."

Quinn felt tears sting the back of her eyes and she quickly looked away and pointed to a random painting.

"I like that one." Rachel followed the direction in which she was pointing and let out a snort.

"The one of the people having sex, huh?"

"I – what? No!" Quinn retracted her hand quickly "I didn't mean… I… uh…" Rachel just laughed harder, resting against Quinn in order to not fall over.

Just as Rachel's laughs were dying down, an old man leant over.

"Don't worry, I like that one too." He winked at Quinn and shuffled away. There was a pause before Rachel burst into infectious laughter, setting Quinn off too.

When they saw people getting annoyed at them, they quickly moved to sit on a bench in front of a full length window, overlooking the park behind the gallery.

"So, Quinn. How's your first week in Lima been?" Rachel asked, nudging the blonde's shoulder.

"Better than I expected," Quinn replied "I've met some great people…"

"_Including _me I hope." Rachel prompted and Quinn rolled her eyes.

"Of course including you!" Quinn reassured and Rachel beamed at her "you were the first person I spoke to besides Miss Pillsbury, and to be honest, I could've done without that chat."

Rachel let out a soft giggle.

"But you're not finding it all a bit overwhelming? Two new clubs, a slushy already… Santana giving you a hard time…"

"Not every school can be perfect. In fact, school's just hell but with fluorescent lights," joked Quinn "but yeah, I like it."

"Good… so, how are things – y'know – between your parents?" Rachel asked, her tone softer.

"I haven't spoken to my dad since mom ditched him. To be honest, I don't much miss him," Quinn replied with a shrug. Rachel bit her lip and looked down at her lap.

"But he's your dad… don't you miss him a little bit?" Rachel queried and Quinn frowned, shaking her head.

"No, I don't think I do," Quinn mumbled "um, I heard through the grapevine that you live with your mom and Santana. Does your dad not live with you?" Rachel looked out of the window.

"I'm sorry Santana's been giving you a tough time," Rachel said, Quinn didn't mention the blatant change of topics, but on her mental list, she added_ "father is a sore subject, must have something to do with mystery past."_

"Don't worry, I've dealt with girls like her before. Except, usually they just tease me about… stuff… but not threaten me…" Quinn replied with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm so sorry! She's been overprotective for a while now. I know she just wants to keep me safe, but it's insane. She offered to escort me here!" Rachel groaned and hit her head with her palm "I love her. I love her more than most sisters would, especially half-sisters! But… I know you know that things have happened in my family's past, no one is exactly quiet about wanting to know… but ever since _it _happened, she's been like… like another mom. I don't think she feels my mom is good enough, so she tries to step in. I want a big sister, not a mom. One is enough, but she doesn't understand. She doesn't see what she's really doing, she's trying to push out my mom because she accuses… never mind, but you know?"

Quinn slid her hand into Rachel's.

"I get it. I mean, I'll never push you to talk about what's happened to your family, like I know you won't push me to talk about my past – but I am here for you, even if you don't ever really want to speak about it properly." Quinn replied and Rachel pulled her into a tight hug.

When they pulled apart, they returned to looking out of the window.

"We should probably check out some more art…" Rachel suggested, standing to her feet "you know, seeing as we _are _in an _art _exhibition."

She held out a hand and pulled Quinn to her feet too. Rachel moved to look at the closest piece, however, her hand never left Quinn's and it shot tingles up the blonde's arm.

Once they'd looked the whole exhibition over, they left the building, their fingers still intertwined.

"That was fun," Rachel sighed as they descended some steps "we should hang out again."

"Definitely. I mean, you don't even have a choice in the matter." Quinn teased as they walked along the sidewalk for a bit.

"I think that you're the best thing to happen to McKinley in a while. We needed another fresh face, especially one as stunning as you." Rachel said and Quinn shook her head.

"I think that you're pretty enough for the whole state." Quinn replied and Rachel blushed.

"Now, I think that you're lying."

"I'm not."

"Prove it." Rachel challenged and Quinn span to face her, holding up her free hand and sticking up her pinkie.

"Pinkie promise," she held it out and Rachel reluctantly linked it with her own "see, not lying."

"Fine, but you flatter me so, Quinn Fabray." Rachel nudged Quinn's shoulder as they began walking side by side again.

There was suddenly a loud beep and they turned to see Santana pulled up next to them in her car.

"I'm here to pick you up, Tiny," Santana said, her eyes fixed on the pair's interlocked hands.

"I didn't need picking up." Rachel huffed.

"Mom sent me."

"She didn't send you, did she?" retorted Rachel and Santana huffed.

"Just get in the car, Hobbit." Rachel turned back to Quinn.

"I had a lovely time, Quinn. Thank you."

"So did I, I'll see you next week."

Quinn glanced quickly at Santana before looking back at Rachel. She dared it and brushed her lips against Rachel's cheek quickly.

Rachel blushed and bit her lip. Santana growled and beeped the car's horn.

"Alright!" snapped Rachel, waving to Quinn and running around the other side of the car to get into the passenger seat. Santana didn't even look at Quinn again before speeding off down the road.

Quinn grinned to herself, she was on her way to getting Rachel Berry and unlocking her mysterious past. Though, she cared about the former much, much more than the latter. Rachel Berry was the only thing on her mind at the moment and she could only hope for that to continue.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry it's taken a lot longer than I said, I just found this chapter really hard to write for some reason. And sorry it's shorter too, I'll try to make the next longer. Thank you so, so much for your lovely reviews. They definitely mean a lot. I am going on holiday in a week, so I am unsure as to whether the next chapter will be out by then or not…**


	6. Chapter 6: Brittany's Clueless Clue

**A/N: OKAY - Chapter 6 Upload Take Two. I decided to try one more time before I go home next week. Let's see if it works today. (sorry if you've already read it, but please leave a review because none of the last ones showed up which made me sad :( ... Thanks greatly)**

* * *

**Hey guys, I have very poor internet access so will have to upload everything I write when I get a chance… which I guess is now, a week into my trip. I've had this written for a while and was going to put off uploading until I got back, but I couldn't resist so, here you are, with the little wifi I have, I've uploaded part six for you all. Enjoy! …**

* * *

Part six

Monday morning couldn't have come quicker for Quinn. She'd had a serious Rachel deficiency over the weekend – which included a slightly dirty dream about the girl which left Quinn not only hot and bothered but awkward when her mother winked at her over breakfast whilst asking if she slept well.

It was pouring with rain so Sam called and offered her a lift in. He spent the whole drive making puns about her and Rachel – which were admittedly quite funny.

"Oh! How about this; if she would Alohamora her legs, you could Slitherin!" Sam laughed heartily at his own line and slapped his hand against the steering wheel.

Quinn rolled her eyes with an amused smile on her lips.

"You're hilarious!" Quinn said sarcastically.

"Okay, okay, I'll stop now," Sam's laughter died down and there was silence for a moment "wait! I got another one!"

Quinn groaned and let her head drop to the window.

They reached the school in no time, and Sam held his letterman jacket over her head to protect her from the heavy rain.

* * *

Once inside the school, Brittany caught up with Quinn and dragged her aside before she could look for Rachel.

"What's up?" Quinn asked as Brittany led her into a janitor's closet and flicked on the switch that illuminated tiny bulb swinging precariously from the ceiling.

"I know you totally like Rachel," Brittany told her and Quinn opened her mouth to deny it when Brittany gave her a pointed look "don't worry, I won't tell Sany."

Quinn wondered how Santana felt about being referred to with such a nickname, but realised that Brittany was still talking so tuned in again.

"It's just that I can see that you really like her, big step-sister or not and I think that's really cool, Quinnie-"

"Please don't call me Quinnie."

"-And I feel like I should-"

"My mom calls me Quinnie, it's horrific."

"-Tell you this because you obviously care-"

"So please don't call me… wait, tell me what?" Quinn finally realised Brittany had kept talking over her and the words caught up with her in her mind.

"What I know!" Brittany replied and Quinn felt a strange tingle go down her back.

It was like a sixth sense telling her that she was about to learn something big, something important and she knew what it was about.

"It's about what happened to them in New York, isn't it?" Brittany nodded.

"I don't know anything for sure but…" Brittany sighed and bit her thumbnail, a worry that if she told then she'd feel so incredibly guilty "but Sany hates sleepovers."

Quinn frowned. How was that important?

"Right…" Quinn tried not to let Brittany on to her incredulousness and motioned for her to continue.

So what if Santana hated sleepovers? Some people don't like that sort of thing. Some people don't like being away from their families and some just don't like staying with other's families. Simple as.

Why was it supposedly important that Santana didn't like sleepovers?

"Not just at my house, but at anyone's. She refuses to go. Even birthday party sleepovers. She won't do it," Brittany continued, hoping her point would get across to Quinn without having to say much more.

Quinn however, still didn't get it. It sounded incredibly likely that Santana was selfish enough to disregard someone's birthday like it was insignificant just because it involved sleeping over.

"I don't get it," Quinn stated just before the bell rang "I should go."

She moved to brush past Brittany but the dancer grabbed her arm to stop her.

"Just think about it, Quinnie," Quinn had to stop herself from blurting out another refute at the nickname as Brittany continued "it may not seem important now, but it will be, especially if you're dead set on finding out what happened to them."

"Right, Santana doesn't do sleepovers. Noted." Quinn removed her arm from Brittany's grip and exited the closet, none the wiser as to what Brittany's supposed clue meant.

Santana hates sleepovers. It meant practically nothing to her.

* * *

Quinn didn't let Brittany's message overtake her thoughts too much and she was soon distracted by being sat next to Rachel in Spanish. When she sat down next to the smaller girl, Rachel wrapped her arms tightly around Quinn and hugged her tightly.

"Hey you," Rachel breathed into Quinn's ear and the blonde hoped Rachel couldn't feel the thumping of her heart against her apparently weak ribcage, threatening to burst through and leap into Rachel's hands.

"H-Hi," Quinn swallowed heavily and hoped that Rachel had also missed her stutter.

Quinn tried to not let the tiny, hopeful mini-Quinn that sat in the far corner of her mind take over and overthink Rachel's soft greeting.

Realistic Quinn knew that she'd seen Rachel interact this way many times with Puck and Brittany; it wasn't that big a deal.

Hopeful Quinn laughed at Realistic Quinn when Rachel pulled away and Actual Quinn still felt tingles everywhere Rachel's body had been pressed against her own. Realistic Quinn knew she was fighting a losing battle, but Hopeful Quinn still didn't take over.

Hopeful Quinn had been very quiet ever since Actual Quinn and every mini-Quinn had discovered that she was pregnant. However, Hopeful Quinn's ego was growing. Obviously not as large as Horny Quinn's. No one's ego was as large as Horny Quinn's.

Actual Quinn just let Horny Quinn reign when she was either asleep or alone… and apparently now in the shower too. HBIC Quinn was locked in a cage at the very back of her mind, with a big sign over the metal bars that read '_USE ONLY IN CASE OF SANTANA'. _

Actual Quinn didn't let herself worry about the mini-Quinn's in her mind. She wasn't crazy…

Well, she wasn't _entirely_ crazy.

* * *

Later, Quinn passed Santana in the hallway and despite every single mini-Quinn yelling at her not to, she couldn't resist.

"Hello, Sany." Quinn said and Santana growled and span to face the blonde.

"Don't call me that, Princess Peach. Only…"

"Only what?" Quinn pushed and she could see that she was testing Santana's temper that was comparable to a short fuse.

"You know what, why don't you head on outside and play hide and go fuck yourself!" Santana barked before storming away.

Quinn smirked to herself and walked to her next lesson, not quite knowing how pissing Santana off was helping her get Rachel, but deciding that it was probably about damn time someone in this school stood up to her.

"Someone has a death wish," Puck whispered to Quinn as he caught up to her.

"Why are you walking with me?" Quinn asked with a frown as Puck wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"You're in my next lesson, sweet thing," Puck leered down the cleavage of her dress and Quinn slapped his wandering hand away "the Puckasaurus has his eye on you."

"Wow, speaking in third person and referring to yourself as an extinct carnivorous species – you really know how to charm the ladies." Quinn told him sarcastically as she shrugged off his arm.

"Look, let's skip right to it. You're hot. I'm hot. Let's screw." Puck suggested and Quinn gaped at him, halting in her walk immediately.

"What?" she hissed and Puck just shrugged.

"You know you want it, baby." He winked and stepped closer, causing Quinn to take a step back.

"No, I don't _want it _and I am not you're baby so never refer to me as such again," Quinn snapped.

"You'll soon be coming to the Puckster; all the ladies give in to me."

Puck took another step closer only to have Sam leap in and shove him back.

"Hey! Keep your dick in your Star Wars undies and leave her alone!" Sam warned and Quinn couldn't help but wonder _how_ Sam knew Puck had _Star Wars_ underwear.

"Oh, I get it. You're screwing Trouty Mouth." Puck accused with a huff.

Quinn rolled her eyes and looked away, to lock eyes with Mercedes who turned and walked away.

"No, I'm just a decent human being. You're being a dumbass. Quinn doesn't want to have sex with you and she never will, so leave her alone," Sam jabbed a finger into Puck's chest and delivered a final blow "or I'll tell Rachel what you just did."

Puck gulped and stepped back.

"Don't. She'll be so upset with me! Or she'll say she's disappointed which is way worse!" Puck begged quickly.

"Promise to never try it on with Quinn again." Sam urged and Puck nodded quickly.

"I promise!" Puck looked to Quinn earnestly.

"Thanks, Sam." Quinn hugged the blonde boy as Puck walked away.

"It's nothing." Sam shrugged it off and continued to walk to his own lesson.

Quinn quickly took off and managed to catch up with Mercedes.

"Hey," Quinn greeted but received no answer "what's up?"

Mercedes growled and yanked Quinn into the girls' bathroom.

"What's wrong?" Quinn asked and Mercedes let out a low, humourless laugh.

"I saw you a minute ago… with Sam. And I know you saw me too," Mercedes snapped, crossing her arms and Quinn didn't know what facial expression was appropriate at this moment so kept a blank look.

"He was stopping Puck from trying it on with me." Quinn replied and Mercedes narrowed her eyes.

"Yes, and when Puck accused you two of getting together, neither of you denied it!"

Quinn thought that this fact was very true, neither did but at the time of the showdown with Puckerman a sudden declaration of refusal didn't seem to fit.

"I'm not with Sam. He's a friend of mine like you are. Like Kurt is and Artie too. I know how you feel about him and I would never do that to someone I'm friends with. You guys didn't have to accept me into your friendship group but you did and that means a lot to me. I'm someone who hasn't had friends in a long time. Sam was just defending me, that's all." Quinn explained and saw Mercedes' expression soften slightly until it hardened again.

"I saw you two this morning as well, you got out of his car and he held his jacket over your head!" Mercedes suddenly barked "why would he do that if he didn't like you? Why would you let him if you didn't like him back?"

Quinn sighed.

"I don't like Sam!" Quinn insisted, her voice rising slightly. HBIC Quinn was rattling the bars of her prison.

"How am I supposed to know that?" Mercedes shouted.

"Because I like Rachel!" Quinn yelled back and Mercedes turned very quiet.

"Oh…" Mercedes felt her mouth go dry, as did Quinn. HBIC Quinn slumped back down again and Realistic Quinn slapped herself on the head.

"Right…" Mercedes cleared her throat "well then. I guess you don't like Sam."

"No," Quinn breathed "I don't really like guys that much anymore."

"Wow… okay," Mercedes nodded slowly "just so you know, I'm totally okay with that. I mean, Kurt had been my bff for years so…"

"Thanks," Quinn replied with a small smile.

"I feel like an idiot," Mercedes muttered, a smile creeping onto her own lips too "I'm so sorry for yelling at you like a crazy person."

"Don't worry about it." Quinn waved her off.

"So… Rachel huh?" Mercedes said with a sly smirk and Quinn rolled her eyes "Santana will…"

"Kill me, I know."

"Good luck."

"I'll need it."

* * *

It was after that lesson – that Quinn was five minutes late for – that a strange occurrence happened. No, Santana wasn't nice to anybody and no, Puck was not respectful towards a girl that wasn't related to him.

No. Quinn was on her way to the choir room for lunch, just like every day the previous week – excluding the half lunch spent with Rachel on Tuesday.

Quinn walked past the auditorium and heard the resonance of a soft melody on the piano. The thing was, she recognised that tune. She recognised it very well.

Quinn slipped into the auditorium and stood at the very back of the room. Ahead of her, in front of all the seats and up on the stage, was Rachel. Positioned at the piano, her brow furrowed in deep thought and her lip caught between two rows of teeth.

Quinn felt her heart flutter as Rachel continued to play _Beth_.

Rachel didn't sing it though, which Quinn found odd – from what she'd heard, Rachel never missed an opportunity to sing. Rachel finished, but her expression remained.

And Quinn could tell what her deep thought was about. And she wasn't sure whether it was a pleasant feeling that Rachel was trying to work out her past too, or if it was terrifying.

Realistic Quinn took this moment to punch Hopeful Quinn in the face whilst Actual Quinn sidled out of the room and continued on her way to the choir room.

* * *

Once Quinn was settled in the choir room, Rachel came storming in a moment or so later and stomped right up to Puck and slapped him upside the head. Puck squealed in turn and held the back of his head in pain. Santana barked out laughter, Sam snorted and everyone else looked mildly shocked.

"Ouch! God dammit! What was that for, Jew Babe?" Puck exclaimed as he rubbed his sore spot.

"I heard what you did to Quinn earlier," Rachel growled. All eyes snapped to Quinn except Puck's who glared accusingly at Sam.

"I didn't tell." Sam held up his hands in defence.

"No! I had to hear it from Jacob," a slap to the head "Ben," followed by another "Israel!" and one final hit.

"I'm sorry!" Puck groaned, trying to shield his head from more damage.

"Wait, what did you do to Peach?" Santana queried.

"He propositioned her for sex – very forcefully." Sam replied and Quinn felt her cheeks heat up as all eyes snapped back in sync to look at her.

"Don't say sorry to me, say sorry to Quinn," Rachel hissed to Puck "I told you to leave her alone!"

"I'm sorry, Quinn!" Puck squeaked out quickly.

"It's fine, really." Quinn insisted, not liking the amount of eyes on her or the fact that Hopeful Quinn had started some little dance in her head at the idea of Rachel telling Puck not to hit on her. However, Realistic Quinn was cracking her knuckles and Actual Quinn was starting to worry about the amount of time she spent thinking about miniature versions of herself that lived inside her mind.

Rachel seemed to calm and went to sit down beside Quinn.

"Are you okay? You look a little flushed?" Rachel asked and Quinn nodded, feeling her throat closing up at Rachel's proximity.

Rachel seemed unconvinced but nodded anyway. They both were engaged in conversation by Artie, Mike and Tina.

However, Quinn spent the whole encounter trying not to overthink the fact that Rachel was playing absent-mindedly with her fingers or that she had rested her head on Quinn's shoulder.

* * *

Quinn found herself hanging out at Sam's house that afternoon where they played Mario – again. An hour or so into their marathon, Sam's mother walked in.

"Sammy, I've washed your underwear and -" it was at that moment that she noticed Quinn sat there with a very embarrassed Sam "right. Hello. Sammy, who's this?"

Sam took a deep breath, trying to find some way to calm his flaming cheeks whilst Quinn stifled a laugh behind her hand.

"Mom, this is Quinn. She's new in town." Sam introduced and Quinn stood and held out her hand for his mother.

"Very nice to meet you, Quinn. Are you Sammy's girlfriend?" Sam's mother asked, shaking her hand.

Quinn giggled and shook her head.

"No, just his friend. I'm actually in the process of trying to get him to ask out the girl he likes." Quinn replied and Sam groaned in embarrassment.

"Quinn!" He whined with a pout.

"Oh! Who does he like?" Sam's mom asked excitedly.

"I couldn't possibly say, Mrs Evans that would breach the contract of our friendship." Quinn told her and Mrs Evans rolled her eyes.

"I get it," Sam's mom smiled politely "I'll just get back to my washing and you two return to those soul sucking video games."

"Sure thing," Sam muttered, crossing his arms tightly over his chest.

Quinn sat back down next to him as his mother exited the room, only to return a moment later.

"Sorry, I was just going to give you your undies." Mrs Evans waved the underwear in her hands and Sam scrambled to grab them and shove them out of sight of a chuckling Quinn.

Sam sat back down and his mother left the room.

"You didn't see those did you?" Sam asked.

"Nope," Quinn replied and picked up her controller "Captain America." Sam pouted and shoved her shoulder.

* * *

Quinn returned home a little while later to hear raucous giggling coming from the kitchen. She frowned and walked in only find feel all colour drain from her face as she saw Rachel sat with her mother doing the most horrifying thing that could possibly happen to you when your crush is at your house;

Baby pictures.

"What's going on?" Quinn asked tentatively as she approached the pair.

"Well Quinnie, Rachel popped over and _you _weren't answering your phone. _So_ we thought that we'd take a quick peek at some old photos whilst we were waiting." Judy replied, winking slyly at Quinn as Rachel smiled sweetly down at the album in front of her.

"You're so adorable!" Rachel cooed as she flipped the page.

_She probably just meant were adorable. WERE. SHUT THE FUCK UP HOPEFUL QUINN! REALISTIC QUINN, YOU KNOW YOUR DUTIES. _

Judy smirked at the pair and stood.

"I'll leave you two to it and I'm going to go read a book in the study. It was nice to meet you Rachel."

"It's my pleasure, Ms Fabray." Rachel replied politely yet honestly as she looked up at the woman with a fond smile. Judy scoffed and waved her off.

"Call me Judy, please dear," Judy walked past Quinn and whispered "or mother in law."

Quinn shoved her giggling mother out of the room and sat down opposite Rachel who was back to looking at the photos. Quinn hoped that Rachel hadn't heard what her mother had said, though a small part of her wished that she had.

"Aw, sweetie!" Rachel held up a picture of a two year old Quinn wearing nothing but wellington boots and an oversized umbrella.

Quinn blushed and ducked her head as Rachel pawed over the rest of the album.

"Is this your father?" Rachel asked, pointing to a picture of Russell holding ten year old Quinn up on his shoulders at a football game.

"Yeah," Quinn sighed.

"He looks like he loved you," Rachel mumbled, running a finger over the image "how old were you in this?"

Quinn looked at it and thought.

"Ten." Rachel nodded slowly.

"Ten... right…" Rachel swallowed "at least you have those good memories of him before he left."

"Trust me, there aren't many." Quinn replied with a shake of her head.

"But you still have them." Rachel pointed out and Quinn had to hand it to the girl.

Her father might've been lousy eight percent of the time. But she still had that twenty percent of a sober father, a good father to hold on to.

"Why did you come over?" Quinn asked "does Santana know you're here?"

"Sure," Quinn raised an eyebrow and Rachel sighed "okay, I had to get Noah to drive me and to say I'm at his. But still!"

Quinn let out a small laugh.

"I just came to ask if you wanted to do a duet with me. I know I could've asked you tomorrow at school, but my brain is extremely hectic and I would've forgotten and then I'd remember at a very inopportune time and then forget again and-"

"I'd love to sing with you!" Quinn interjected and Rachel grinned.

"Great!" Rachel beamed and clapped her hands together before reaching for another album "2010. Last year huh?"

Rachel moved to open it when Quinn suddenly remembered what Rachel would find in the album that was considerably smaller than the others. Quinn slammed her hand down on the cover to prevent Rachel from opening it.

"You can't look in that one," Quinn told her and Rachel seemed to be a little shocked before she calmly removed her hands.

"This is about this past you have that you think I won't like, isn't it?" Rachel queried and Quinn nodded.

"I might let you see someday. Not today." Quinn shoved the album to the side.

She was scared of what Rachel would think if she found out she had been pregnant. Would Rachel think she was a slut? A whore? Cheap?

What would Rachel think if she knew she'd given Beth away? Would she think she was weak? A cash whore? A bitch?

Rachel didn't seem to hold onto the idea that Quinn's secret was an arm's length away and instead returned to the albums of preteen Quinn.

An hour later and Rachel's phone vibrated. Quinn watched as the tiny brunette groaned.

"Santana's worked out that I'm not at Puck's. She squeezed my location out of him and is on her way to pick me up," Rachel grumbled, shoving her phone back in her pocket and shrugging on her coat "thanks for having me and thank your mother too."

"No problem at all," Quinn replied a little too eagerly "come over again anytime – if you can get away from Santana that is."

Rachel laughed and pulled Quinn into a tight embrace.

"See you tomorrow," Rachel kissed Quinn's flaming cheek and pulled away "I can't wait to work on our duet!"

All words caught in Quinn's throat and she could only nod in reply as Rachel skipped out of the door.

Judy flew out of the study and wrapped her arms around her daughter.

"Oh Sweetheart, she's just as adorable as you said she was! I just have one question," Quinn nodded to her mother for her to continue "can I do the colour scheme for your wedding?"

Quinn rolled her eyes and pushed her excitable mother away.

"I'm going upstairs," she declared, getting away from her still squealing mother quickly "don't follow me."

"Oh, Quinnie you'll both look the best in wedding dresses! I'll contact the flower shop!" Judy stamped her feet in a very childlike excitable manner, a silent scream of delight escaping her lips.

"Shut it!" Quinn yelled and Judy was too joyful to scald her.

* * *

Once upstairs, Quinn found her thoughts obviously straying to Rachel again, but a slightly different thought from usual.

Quinn had always been a thinker. Thinking about why people do and say things, why people act one way or another; why that man has an umbrella but not a jacket, why that woman has three handbags or why that man decided he wanted to go out with that woman and vice versa. Quinn noticed things and she studied them.

So when her thoughts strayed to Rachel, more specifically the part involving Santana's overprotective nature – she thought about how Rachel felt.

How she felt every time someone let Santana win. How she felt every time someone didn't feel she was worth fighting for.

Quinn wondered if Rachel ever went home and cried to herself at night.

She wondered if Santana ever knew quite what she was doing to her half-sister.

She wondered if Rachel loved Santana in turn too much to ever tell her to stop, leaving herself alone.

And it broke Quinn's heart. Because Rachel was probably broken hearted too.

She'd never had someone want her enough to fight for her and, Quinn knew, _everyone_ deserves to be fought for.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry for the wait, I'm on holiday :D but I'm when I'm back uploading shall continue as normal. Thanks as always for your much appreciated reviews, they always make my day to read. Also, to answer a question I got a while back but forgot to answer, the story will mainly be from Quinn's point of view so then you will learn things at the same pace as she does. However, I will switch POV'S at certain points if necessary.**


	7. Chapter 7: The Piggy Project Confliction

**A/N: Sorry about all the confusion about the uploading problems on the last chapter. Your reviews are all so lovely that I started writing this immediately.**

Part seven

"You can do this." Quinn assured, rubbing Sam's shoulders as he bounced nervously on his toes in front of her.

"I can do this. I can do this," he repeated before trying to run away "I can't do this."

"Don't you dare!" Quinn grabbed his arm and yanked him back "you _can_ just go and talk to her. It's not that bad."

Sam took in a shaky breath and nodded.

"Right. Okay. Just talk to her," Sam looked over his shoulder to where Mercedes was searching through her locker and a little whimper left his pouty lips "oh God. Kill me now."

Sam looked back to Quinn who gave him a stern look. Sam took a step away from her.

"Tell my mom I love her." He said and Quinn rolled her eyes.

"Why don't you tell Mercedes that?" Quinn retorted and Sam paled again.

"Oh God. I can't do this." Sam gulped and tried to leave once again only to have Quinn grab onto his letterman jacket and drag him back.

"Sam. You can engage her in small talk! You don't have to profess your undying love for her or anything. Just talk to the woman _before_ lessons start." Quinn pushed Sam in Mercedes' direction and Sam took shaky steps towards her, murmuring a mantra of 'just talk to her. Just talk to her. Just talk to her.'

He finally reached Mercedes and cleared his throat. Mercedes turned to look at him and her eyes widened slightly.

"H-Hi," Sam squeaked, wincing at the sound of his own voice. Quinn face palmed.

"Hey, Sam," Mercedes replied calmly, though her heartbeat was actually rattling in her chest.

"I… uh…" Sam looked over his shoulder to Quinn who mouthed 'talk to her!' Sam turned back to a confused looking Mercedes. He let out a nervous laugh.

"I like your… hair?" it came out more as a question than a statement and Mercedes ran a hand through her hair self-consciously.

"Um, thanks?" Mercedes replied and Sam squeaked again.

Quinn didn't even notice that someone had sidled up next to her until they spoke.

"So one of them has finally plucked up the courage,"

Quinn violently spun to face Rachel who was smiling sweetly at her before nodding to Sam and Mercedes.

"Uh… yeah," Quinn realised that she was being as pathetic as Sam and straightened up "I kinda forced him over there. It was about time."

Rachel nodded slowly.

"Good job. I think it's sweet," Rachel looked back over to Sam and Mercedes who were laughing together. Quinn looked eyed Rachel, noting a strange look overcoming her features.

And then she remembered, Rachel had never really had a proper relationship, a boyfriend _or _girlfriend – Quinn still wasn't sure what Rachel was into, how do you ask that question? 'Hey, do you like stubble and hairy legs or boobs and short skirts?'

"Quinn?" Rachel's voice snapped Quinn from her thoughts so suddenly the blonde jerked and whacked her head on the locker next to her.

Quinn swore under her breath, clenched her eyes shut and gritted her teeth as the pain shot through her head. Rachel let out a gasp and rushed forwards, for all Quinn could grasp.

"Oh my gosh! Are you okay?" Rachel asked urgently "are you bleeding? Do you need the nurse? Are you going to black out?" Quinn felt Rachel's soft hands cup her face and she felt like falling backwards and giving up on life right there and then.

Rachel was touching her face. She needed no more from her life. Nothing could compare to this.

"Quinn!" Rachel exclaimed and Quinn realised that she should probably let the poor girl know she's alright.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Quinn groaned and Rachel let out a sigh of relief "no major damage, all good in the hood…"

Quinn opened a single eye to see Rachel looking incredulously at her.

"All good in the hood?"

"It's a saying," Quinn pouted at her, opening her other eye and Rachel smiled again.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Rachel questioned and Quinn nodded.

Rachel removed her hands and Quinn let out a whimper at the loss of her touch. She really hoped that Rachel hadn't noticed.

"I'm alright, just a bit of pain." Quinn shrugged it off.

"Ah, well I'm sure that a strong girl like you can handle it,"

Rachel teasingly ran her hand up from Quinn's wrist and to her bicep and stroked her nails across it. Quinn felt a blush rise up from her neck to her face and hoped that it wasn't as obvious as it felt.

"Here, I hope this makes you feel a little better," Rachel leant up and kissed Quinn's cheek, squeezing the arm as she did so. Quinn felt her face grow impossibly hotter.

Rachel pulled back with an innocent grin and removed her hand.

"I better get going to class. I'll see you around." Rachel waved and skipped off down the hallway, leaving Quinn still stunned and aroused behind.

How? Quinn wondered. How could a girl tease someone like that and get them incredibly worked up without even realising?

Quinn was torn from her stupor as Sam rested a hand on her shoulder.

"Class?" Sam suggested, nodding to the empty hallways. Quinn nodded, unable to produce words and stumbled after him.

"How did it go?" Quinn asked and Sam blushed, ducking his head and rubbing the back of his neck.

"It went okay," Sam replied with a shrug and Quinn nudged him in the ribs, urging him to continue "well, first we spoke about hair and it was _really _awkward. Then we both just laughed at ourselves, cos we were being stupid. And then she said-"

Sam cleared his throat and then spoke with a remarkably accurate 'Mercedes voice'.

"'This is wack, we've been in Glee together for a year and all we can talk about is hair!' And then she asked if I wanted to join her, Kurt, Artie and you for coffee after school today." Sam told her and Quinn grinned in response.

"That's great!" Quinn exclaimed and Sam just shrugged again "she practically asked you on a date!"

"Yeah, with three other people," Sam rolled his eyes "it's a friend thing, Q."

Sam walked past her and into the classroom.

* * *

Quinn was finding English her favourite subject so far at McKinley – and not just because she loved books. But because of the fortunate seating plan in which she was placed between Kurt and Brittany and behind Artie and Mercedes.

She was in the middle of a game of pencil Jenga with the four when Miss Hagberg decided to awake and set them work.

"Um…" Miss Hagberg huffed and shrugged "a project? Sure, that'll do. What book have I assigned you?"

"You haven't assigned us a book, Miss." Sam spoke up from his seat near the front of the room. Miss Hagberg groaned.

"Fine. Let's find a book that you brainless buffoons can read."

"Does _Sports Illustrated _count?" Puck asked "or _Playboy_?"

"No they most certainly do not, Puckerman," Miss Hagberg snapped, walking over to the cabinet at the side of the room and looking inside "here! _Lord of the Flies_! That'll do!" Miss Hagberg took out the stack of books and lobbed one at each student.

Only Kurt managed to miss his and it hit him square on the nose.

"Right… um… okay," Miss Hagberg mumbled, racking her brain for an idea of a project she could set her students "okay, pair up and… together present to the class a presentation on a certain character and their significance in the story." Miss Hagberg looked proud of herself as the students groaned.

_Every eye roll means you're doing it right_! She told herself.

"Can we pick our own pairs?" Brittany asked, looking in Santana's direction.

"No," Miss Hagberg replied, receiving an orchestra of groans from the students "here are your pairings; Kurt and Sam,"

Sam looked back to Kurt and smiled warmly at him and Kurt smiled back.

"Puckerman and Brittany."

"Is she insane?" Kurt whispered to Quinn who shrugged in turn.

Being the new kid and being assigned partners was like a nightmare. You didn't know anybody at all. Most people knew of each other well enough to get a project done. Not Quinn though.

"Artie and Mike." Artie narrowed his eyes.

He wasn't over Tina and the last person he wanted to be paired with was Mike. Mike gulped and looked over his shoulder at Artie.

Miss Hagberg paired up most of the class until there were a few left.

"Mercedes and the funny looking kid." Miss Hagberg pointed to Jacob Ben Israel and Mercedes face palmed.

"Wait… that means…" Quinn's eyes widened and it seemed that Santana had the same realisation.

"Santana and the newbie." Miss Hagberg finished.

"NO!" Santana shouted "I'd even rather go with Wheezy or Tron. Not Princess Peach! I don't want to have to commit _suicide_! I'd _miss_ me too much!"

"Pairs are final, no swapping. Who knows, maybe you'll find a common ground," Miss Hagberg suggested and slumped back in her chair "everybody move to sit with your partners and start planning your project."

Santana whipped her head around to glare at Quinn.

"I'm so sorry, Barbie Girl," Mercedes turned and said apologetically.

"I don't want you to be murdered; I was really starting to like you!" Artie joined in.

"Who's going to murder Quinn?" Brittany asked as she collected her things together.

"Satan," Kurt replied only to be met with a confused frown "Santana."

"She _won't_ murder Quinnie! Everybody thinks she's a bad person but she's _not_," Brittany protested.

"She's borderline _evil_!" Kurt hissed.

"She's _scared_!" Brittany replied, silencing the others immediately. Brittany glanced at each of them once more before standing and walking to sit beside Puck who was attempting to read the book upside down.

Sam tapped Quinn's shoulder.

"Mind if I sit here, Q?" Sam asked and Quinn gulped before standing up and out of the way so Sam could work with Kurt.

"Good luck - and if you die, I'll miss you." Sam patted her back before pushing her in Santana's direction.

"Hurry the fuck up, Runner Up Miss Ohio 2010!" Santana barked "stop _waddling_ and start walking!"

Quinn huffed and walked quickly to the seat beside Santana and sat down.

"This day gets worse and worse," Santana grumbled, turning so she could look at Quinn.

"What bad happened to start with? Did you look in the mirror this morning?" Quinn hissed back, letting HBIC Quinn out of her cage.

"People don't speak to me like that." Santana growled.

"I think someone should." Quinn retorted before flipping open the book.

"You're walking a dangerous line, Fabray and it ends with me tearing you to shreds!"

"Can't wait," Quinn replied with a smirk. Santana grabbed her book harshly and tore it open.

"You know, I think we should study Piggy as a character. Must be real relatable to you, Tubs!" Santana tilted her head for emphasis; as if the angle of her face would make her comment sting more.

"Oh come on, I'm the same dress size as you, Satan." Quinn rolled her eyes. Santana merely smirked and returned to looking through her book.

"How's Rachel?" Quinn asked offhandedly as she flipped through the pages of _Lord of the Flies_. She didn't need to look at Santana to see the girl tense slightly.

"She hasn't packed her bags yet? I'm seriously surprised that she hasn't been dying to get away from you for years!" Quinn jibed and felt the whole table shift when Santana slammed her hands down onto it.

"You don't get to talk about that!" Santana shouted, drawing the attention of the class and Quinn shrunk back slightly "you know nothing! Leave my sister alone!"

Santana grabbed her bag and stormed out of the class. Quinn looked over her shoulder to where Sam and Kurt were looking at her with wide eyes.

* * *

After Santana's little fiasco in English, Quinn found herself walking to her next lesson with Kurt.

"So, how's it all going with you and the young Barbra Streisand?" Kurt asked, prodding his elbow into Quinn's side.

"Just friends at the moment, Kurt," Quinn replied with a roll of her eyes "but I think I need help. I think about her _all the time_. And I've known her a week!" Kurt smiled softly at her.

"I think that's what they call love at first sight, Blondie." He told her.

"That's bullshit."

"What else would you call it?" Kurt raised an eyebrow and Quinn failed to come up with an answer "Quinn, I'm proud of you and the way you're handling your feelings. You haven't done anything drastic or stupid and you're accepting yourself. The only thing _left _is to tell her how you feel."

"Are you certifiably insane?" Quinn hissed, looking at him with wide eyes "I've known the girl a _week _and I'm just supposed to go up to her and say 'oh, hey there. Yeah, I think I'm in love with you'. She is going to think I'm a nutcase. I don't know what she'd do… let alone Santana! I don't even know if she likes girls, least of all _me_!"

"Oh come on, Quinn. You're ridiculously beautiful; it's almost obnoxious how beautiful you are. You're like a Disney Princess – but instead of Prince Charming, you get a teeny tiny Jewish girl. I would turn for you, I would," Kurt told her with his hand over his heart and Quinn blushed heavily "it is near impossible for people to _not _be attracted to you in some shape or form. And that's just upon sight. If one gets to know you, like Sam, Cedes', Artie and I have, then they'll sure as hell fall in love with you more."

Quinn hugged Kurt tightly.

"I think I should talk to someone," Quinn hummed as she thought "maybe Miss Pillsbury."

"No!" Kurt protested immediately.

"She's a guidance councillor right?"

"Yeah, but she's the worst person possible to speak to!" Kurt insisted "trust me, don't talk to her. Do _not_ speak to Miss Pillsbury, got me?"

"Okay." Quinn sighed.

* * *

"Well, Quinn. I have to say that I am honoured that you came to speak to me!" Miss Pillsbury squeaked as she finished scrubbing at her vase and sat down opposite Quinn "what can I help you with?"

"I'm having problems… romantic problems." Quinn said and the councillor shifted uncomfortably.

"Oh, r-right… well… W-what sort of problems?"

"I like someone… but I don't know if they like me back. More importantly, I suppose, I don't know if they're into girls or not." Quinn answered and Miss Pillsbury blinked multiple times in quick succession.

"Is this about someone in Glee club?" Miss Pillsbury asked and Quinn nodded.

"Well, just because he likes _the Wizard of Oz_ doesn't mean he's a friend of Dorothy," Miss Pillsbury said with a small smile and Quinn raised an eyebrow, realising that the teacher thought she was talking about a boy "if you're really worried, then just simply ask him. He probably won't be offended. _Trust_ me… I-I mean… N-not that I-I've had experience of asking men if they're lost in Narnia or not…. H-however, if it's _Kurt_ then I wouldn't be surprised if-"

"Should you really be talking so openly about your students' sexuality, never mind private matters that they don't discuss with you?" Quinn snapped quickly, feeling weirdly defensive over Kurt. Maybe that's an aspect of what having a friend feels like. Quinn had forgotten how that really felt.

"W-well… W-Will, I mean Mr Schuester does it… so…" Miss Pillsbury gulped and shifted her eyes away from Quinn.

"Ah, well that makes it okay then."

Quinn rolled her eyes and stood up, not bothering with goodbyes as she exited the room.

"Helpful?" Kurt asked, having been leaning on the wall beside the door and now strode alongside Quinn.

"Not even slightly."

"I'm not gonna say 'I told you so' but I do have a little 'I was right' dance prepared." Kurt said with a small grin and Quinn bumped his shoulder with her own.

* * *

Lunchtime came soon enough and as per usual, Quinn joined the rest of the Glee club in the choir room.

"Quinn!"

The girl in question turned just in time to see Rachel jogging towards her, and capturing her in a hug which caused them to spin around twice.

"Wow, hey." Quinn replied, liking the feeling of Rachel's cheek being pressed right against her chest, almost on her breasts.

Rachel pulled away and grinned.

"I was hoping that we could work on our duet and that _maybe_ we could get going before Santana arrives and stops us." Rachel suggested and Quinn nodded enthusiastically, maybe a little too enthusiastically.

"Great! We're not going to the auditorium, too obvious, so I asked Mr Schue if we could borrow his office," Rachel grabbed Quinn's hand and pulled her towards the door before calling to Puck "Noah! If Santana asks, tell her that I'm doing work with Mr Schue. Don't tell her Quinn's with me!"

"Why do I have to tell her?" Puck whined as Rachel disappeared out of the door and rushed with Quinn down the hall and into Mr Schue's office.

The tiny brunette closed both doors and pulled down the blinds over the glass windows before turning back to Quinn with a smile.

"Hey," Rachel said softly.

"Hi," Quinn replied, perched on the edge of the teacher's desk "so, what are we singing?"

"I'm not sure yet. I wanted to ask if you had anything particular in mind." Rachel asked whilst sitting up on the desk next to her, swinging her legs which didn't quite reach the ground.

"Nope, I figured that you're the expert. I trust you to pick something superbly amazing." Quinn told with a shrug and Rachel giggled.

"Superbly amazing? That's quite a margin to meet."

"I'm sure you can do it," Quinn said honestly and Rachel beamed at her "but in the meantime, I suggest that we play goofy songs-" Quinn clicked play on her iPod and The Proclaimers played out with _I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) _which caused Rachel to laugh "and we hang out for today and have fun in this tiny little office. What say you to fun, Miss Berry?"

Rachel paused to think, raising her eyes to looking at the ceiling and pouting her lips before leaning into Quinn and grinning at the blonde.

"I say yes."

Quinn laughed before leaping off of the desk and started marching around the room to the beat of the song, causing Rachel to giggle heartily in the most adorable way. Once Quinn had completed one lap of the room, Rachel jumped off of the desk and skipped after her, singing out the lyrics in the best Scottish accent she could manage.

Quinn stopped at Mr Schue's cupboards as the song drew to a close and switched to Duran Duran and Rachel continued to belt out the lyrics as she skipped around the open space.

Quinn opened a cupboard and found it full with sweater vests and waistcoats. The blonde snorted and pulled on a waistcoat before approaching Rachel.

"Seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee myyyyyyyyyyyyyy _VEST! _See my vest! Made from real gorilla _CHEST!_" Quinn opened the waistcoat suddenly and Rachel burst into laughter, laughing so hard she fell to the floor.

Quinn skipped back to the cupboard.

"Oh God, he _actually_ owns a trilby. I'm sure that's illegal for men over twenty-five," Quinn pulled on the hat and turned back to Rachel "do I look creepy enough to be a thirty year old teacher whose only friends are kids?"

Rachel lifted her head to look up at Quinn and giggled.

"No, you could never look creepy. You look adorable," Rachel commented, sitting up and leaning against the wall.

"I feel like I'm dressed in my dad's clothes," Quinn tugged at the oversized vest and Rachel nodded slowly, getting a distant look in her eyes "I'm sorry."

Quinn quickly apologised, mentally slapping herself for being so careless. Rachel looked up at her again and smiled.

"Nonsense," Rachel held out her hand "come join me, Quinnie!"

Quinn couldn't even bring herself to hate the tedious nickname because _Rachel _had said it and she dropped down to sit next to the tiny brunette. Rachel rested her head on Quinn's shoulder and tucked into her side.

"I think that you're crazy, Quinn," Rachel said gently "but you're fast becoming one of my best friends." Quinn smiled sadly.

"Yeah… you too." Quinn dropped her head to rest on top of Rachel's and let out a deflated sigh.

* * *

After school, Quinn was sat in the Lima Bean with Kurt, Artie, Mercedes and Sam.

Quinn and Sam were on one side of the table and Kurt and Mercedes were at the other with Artie at the head.

They were idly chatting about their English projects, including wonderings over how on Earth Quinn could manage to do a project with Santana when Kurt suddenly changed the topic.

"Well, what I think we all want to know is what Miss Fabray is going to do about her crush on Rachel, the New Directions' very own young ingénue." Kurt prompted and Quinn glared at him as Sam and Mercedes nodded eagerly.

"I don't-"

"Oh come on, Barbie Girl, all of us here already know." Mercedes said with a roll of her eyes.

"Actually, I didn't know." Artie spoke up.

"Woops, cover blown." Kurt looked apologetically at Quinn who shrugged.

"It's fine, one of these three would've let it slip at some point, might as well be when I'm in the vicinity." Quinn said to Artie who chuckled.

"Well, I think you have both excellent and very poor taste. Rachel is undoubtedly a very attractive young female yet then again, she is the most unavailable girl in the whole school," Artie looked at Quinn with a teasing smirk "I can see why you're attracted to her."

"Oh it's much more than that! Our Young Grace Kelly is in love!" Kurt squealed.

"I am not!" Quinn insisted.

"Oh come off it! You said yourself this morning that she's all you think about!"

"I also think about a bunch of other important things!"

"But primarily her!" Sam added and Quinn glared at him.

"Shut it." Quinn huffed.

"I think it's cute. It's like love at first sight!" Mercedes sighed dreamily and Sam looked at her with hidden puppy dog eyes.

"Yeah, _except _for the fact that she said that I was 'quickly becoming one of her best _friends_'," Quinn mumbled "I might as well just give up."

"Hey, merely a day ago you thought that Rachel Berry was worth fighting Satan herself over, are you just going to let that evil bitch win?" Mercedes questioned and Quinn slumped forwards, resting her cheek on her fist and shrugging.

"There's no point fighting if there's no hope in winning," Quinn grumbled "a girl as perfect as Rachel would never go for a girl like me anyway, let alone a girl at all. My past is screwed up. Once she knows about that then she'll be heading for the hills. I'm not good enough for her. Santana knows it and that's why she's so desperate for me to stay away. Maybe I should do just that. I'm nothing and Rachel is everything good. Why should I even bother?"

Sam slammed his hands down on the table, having had enough.

"That's it! I will not sit here and listen to you speak bad about yourself, Quinn Fabray!" Sam protested and Quinn sat up "you are amazing! Who cares about what you did in the past? We have all done stuff that we are not proud of! Things have happened to us but we learn from them. They make us better and we move on. Quinn, _no one _is more worthy of love than you and no one is more worthy of _Rachel _than you. All those other people have just given up at one glance from Santana, including me but that's not important anymore – but you've stuck and you've fought. You are more deserving of Rachel than anybody could ever hope to be. You are a good person, Quinn. I know it. We know it. Rachel knows it. And Santana probably knows it deep, deep, deep down. So don't let her stop you. You will be with Rachel, we'll help you in any way we can. Everyone deserves to be loved."

Sam glanced at Mercedes at the end but quickly looked at a tearful Quinn again, who engulfed him in a tight hug.

"Thank you," Quinn whispered and pulled away to wipe her eyes.

"He's right, we'll totally do anything we can to help you win over that loveable Jewish diva." Artie added.

"You two are practically perfect for each other," Mercedes concurred.

"Who is?" All five whipped their heads up to look at Rachel who was sipping on her drink.

"U-um, we were talking about Kurt and m-my friend Blaine from Westerville," Quinn made up quickly before realising that those two probably would be perfect together… she'd have to get onto that.

"Oh sweet," Rachel said with a smile "what's Blaine like?"

"He's… nice. He's an incredible singer. Seriously, people drop their pants when he opens his dreamboat accapella mouth. He's smooth and a little bit dorky. Great fun though," Quinn explained quickly as Kurt frowned at her.

"And _I _was just asking why Quinn had never mentioned _Blaine _before." Kurt hinted and Quinn shrugged.

"Didn't think about it." Quinn replied sheepishly.

"Rachel, do you have anywhere to be?" Sam asked and Quinn turned to glare at him.

"Um… no?"

"Why don't you join us?" Sam suggested "it's no trouble really."

"Oh… I don't think…"

"Please, join us." Mercedes added and Artie and Kurt nodded along. Rachel looked to Quinn who smiled and had to nod along also.

"Okay then…" Rachel shrugged with a happy smile.

"Here, take my seat," Sam offered, standing up "next to Quinn here. I'll pull up another one." Sam held it out for Rachel and she sat down next to Quinn who was silently cursing the blonde boy – who was cursing himself because pulling up another chair meant that he was closer to Mercedes.

"So," Rachel began as she lifted her drink "when are we going to set up a meeting for Kurt and Blaine?"

"Oh my God!" Kurt exclaimed suddenly "you have tiny hands! Compare them to Quinn's!"

Quinn looked at Kurt like he'd grown another head, as did Sam, Artie and Mercedes, but Rachel didn't seem to notice as she grabbed Quinn's hand and held her hand against it to see the difference.

"Quinn's are only a little larger," Rachel commented.

"Perfect for holding hands though," Artie jumped in and Rachel didn't seem to catch on to what the group where doing so nodded.

"Yup," Rachel pushed her fingers down between Quinn's and entwined their fingers.

Quinn was distracted for the rest of the coffee meet, just staring down at their hands. Artie was right, their hands fit like they'd been made that way.

Like God had moulded their hands together in the beginning and then split them, leaving the pair to find each other once again and fit in that deliciously perfect way once more.

Quinn smiled to herself. Yeah, she was going to keep fighting for Rachel.

Quinn looked up at the tiny brunette to see Rachel smiling warmly at her.

She was _so _worth it.

* * *

**A/N: I'm so sorry for how late this is. I know I promised that it'd be earlier to leamicheleisawesome and I'm sorry that I didn't keep that promise. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. No more revealed about their past, but Faberry times are always good. **

**Coming soon: More Faberry sneakiness behind Santana's back and more about the past is revealed.**


	8. Chapter 8: Quinn's Cupboard Encounter

Part Eight

It had taken a lot of persuading from Miss Hagberg for Santana to relent and agree to continue doing the _Lord of the Flies _project with Quinn. They didn't speak once after deciding who would work on which part of deducing and dissecting the character of Piggy.

Quinn couldn't stop her eyes from darting over to the Latina as she worked.

The blonde was still feeling guilty for working Santana up so much, especially on an obviously sensitive topic like Rachel.

"I know I'm hot shit, but can you not stare at me while I'm working?" Santana muttered, not tearing her eyes away from her work.

"I'm sorry." Quinn replied and Santana furrowed her brow and finally looked at her.

"What are you on about, Peach?"

"I'm sorry about what I said the other day – about Rachel. I didn't mean it." Quinn told her and Santana just searched her eyes before nodding.

"Whatever." Santana looked back to her work and continued writing.

Quinn assumed that that was the most she was going to get out of her and so turned back to her book too.

"I still don't like you." Santana mumbled a few minutes later and Quinn rolled her eyes.

"I didn't expect much else." Santana smirked and shook her head.

* * *

It was a Thursday, so by proxy is was dull and the only thing Quinn was looking forward to was lunch with Rachel – of course. So far they'd neglected choosing their duet song and instead had just had fun hanging out and getting to know each other better within the comfort of Mr Schuester's office.

Quinn was waiting inside the office for Rachel, tapping her feet on the ground in a rhythmic pattern and she found herself immediately perking up at the sound of the brunette's voice approaching.

And then it was joined by another.

"I'm just doing work with Mr Schue."

"What kind of work? You've been in there every day this week!" Santana exclaimed. Quinn stopped tapping and listened.

"Stuff for Sectionals, I am the team captain after all." Rachel replied quickly.

"I don't get it, why would Spongehair Squarechin need you _every day _in his office. That fucker freaks me out." Santana growled and Quinn began a little freak out as the pair approached the door.

"The set list for competition has to be perfect in order to show off _my _excellent vocal skills as well as the average skills of the group as a whole." Rachel rambled quickly.

"C'mon, Rach," Santana drawled "and don't think I haven't noticed that Princess Peach has disappeared too."

"I don't know what Quinn's doing, but I believe that she likes to spend her time in the library or maybe with some of the friends she's made in the swim team." Rachel lied.

Quinn felt her heartbeat go into double time. Rachel was lying to her own sister not just so she can hang out with Quinn but so she can protect her – no one had ever done that sort of thing for her before.

A jostle of the door handle made Quinn jump. They were coming in. She looked around urgently.

Quinn made a hasty decision, she ran and leapt inside the cupboard, hiding amongst their teacher's array of vests and closing the cupboard door just in time. She kept it a crack open so she could see what was happening.

Rachel and Santana entered the room and Rachel visibly relaxed at the empty space.

"Well, where is he?" Santana asked, her hands on her hips.

"He must be running a little late, I'll just wait for him."

"I'll wait with you." Santana began circling the office slowly.

Rachel paled slightly.

"N-no. You don't have to do that, San…" Rachel protested but Santana waved her off.

"It's fine." Santana began inspecting the items on the desk.

Rachel's eyes flickered between watching her half-sister and watching the door, anticipating Quinn's arrival any minute.

"Urgh, he has hair grease on his desk." Santana picked up the pot of hair gel in front of her and scrunched up her nose at it.

Rachel played with the edge of her dress, but her eyes caught something the same time as Quinn's.

A school bag resting against the floor of the desk. More specifically, Quinn's bag.

Rachel's eyes widened as her head snapped up and her eyes wandered urgently over the room. The tiny brunette swiftly kicked the bag under the desk, hoping that Santana hadn't seen.

Santana continued to look around the room and her eyes landed on the cupboard.

"I wonder what Schue-bag keeps in here." Santana muttered, walking towards it.

Quinn held her breath and tried to slink back as far as she could into the cupboard, vests falling in front of her, but not masking her nearly enough.

Rachel's eyes kept flittering over the many nooks and crannies of the room, trying to search for where Quinn could be – if she even was in the room.

Santana moved towards the cupboard and Quinn watched it happen. Santana approached it with curious eyes and a small smirk playing on her lips. Quinn's lungs began to burn from holding her breath, but she somehow couldn't stop herself.

Her brain was urging Rachel to make some distraction but the tiny brunette had her back to them now and was inspecting behind the plant pot. Quinn rolled her eyes. _Even I'm not that small! _

Santana's hand reached out to open the cupboard door and Quinn's heart stopped.

That was until the office door opened and Mr Schue entered. Santana retracted her hand but didn't even try to look innocent.

With Santana that wasn't possible.

"Hey," Mr Schue greeted, walking slowly to his desk "didn't expect to see you here, Santana."

The Cheerio moved away from the cupboard and Quinn began breathing once more.

"I'm not stopping. See you later, Hobbit." Santana ruffled Rachel's hair on her way out of the door and the tiny brunette ducked out of the way.

Santana chuckled as she closed the door behind her and Rachel fixed her hair again.

"I'm not stopping," Mr Schue said, moving towards his desk.

Quinn really wanted to get out of the cupboard but thought it far too awkward whilst Mr Schuester was still in the room.

"I was just picking up some papers. I'm meeting Finn… t-to go through his tests," Mr Schue quickly picked up some paper and walked out of the room "say hi to Quinn from me when she gets here."

Rachel nodded slowly, watching as the door clicked into place and the room fell silent.

Rachel whipped around again.

"Quinn?" she hissed, peeking around the desk.

Quinn pushed the cupboard door open and fell out, gasping for fresh air.

"Oh my gosh!" Rachel rushed forwards and knelt beside the heaving blonde "are you okay, Quinn?"

"Fine," Quinn wheezed, getting onto her knees and taking deep breaths in "just a bit cramped in there."

"I can't imagine that closet is very suited to holding people," Rachel suddenly grinned "you know what - you just fell out of the closet."

Quinn raised an eyebrow.

"The closet. You just came out of it," Rachel looked at her expectantly "you came out of the closet, literally."

Quinn's eyes widened slightly as Rachel giggled brightly and stood up.

Once her breathing had returned to normal, Quinn got to her feet also.

"So, decided on a duet for us yet?" Quinn asked and Rachel shrugged coyly.

"Maybe." Rachel drawled as she skipped over to get her bag, which she'd left on a chair.

"Does that mean no?"

"… Yes." Rachel just pulled out a Tupperware box from her bag "I made cookies."

Quinn grinned and Rachel's smile grew bolder because of it.

"I had to make them in the night so neither Santana or mom took any, but I think it's worth it." Rachel shrugged and took off the lid, before holding it out to Quinn as she sat up on the desk.

Quinn raised her hands slightly, sitting next to her.

"You have the first one, you made them after all." Rachel smiled softly at her but pushed the box closer.

"I made them for you, so you have the first one." Rachel replied and Quinn shook her head.

"No, you go first. I insist."

Quinn pushed the box back towards Rachel and the tiny brunette cocked her head to the side slightly.

"You're too polite for your own good, Fabray," Rachel told her and Quinn blushed slightly "now take a damn cookie."

"Compromise?" Quinn suggested "same time." Rachel hesitated before relenting and nodded.

They both took a cookie at the same time.

"Cheers." Rachel giggled and they clinked their cookies together before taking a bite simultaneously.

Quinn's eyes rolled into the back of her head and she let out an embarrassing moan. Because they really were_that _good.

"You like?" Rachel asked teasingly and Quinn cleared her throat and swallowed her mouthful.

"No, it's disgusting," Quinn replied sarcastically, bumping Rachel's shoulder "seriously though, they're so good! No wonder you had to hide them from Santana and your mom."

Rachel smiled shyly and bit into her cookie again.

"Well apparently I've gotten pretty good at hiding things from Santana." Rachel told her with a smaller smile.

"If you want to stop hanging out then I completely understand. Lying to Santana must not be easy considering how close you two are and –"

"Quinn!" Rachel interjected suddenly, cutting the blonde off "I've been lying to Santana for _years_ now… and anyway, you are so worth it."

Rachel winked as she put the last piece of cookie into her mouth and Quinn felt herself blushing for the umpteenth time that day.

Quinn wasn't going to ask what Rachel had been lying to Santana about for years – Rachel would tell her when she was ready, Quinn was sure of that.

"Dance party?" Quinn suggested and Rachel giggled.

"Play that funky music, Blondie."

Quinn whipped out her iPod quickly and pressed shuffle.

Rachel leapt up from the desk and began jumping around crazily to the music. It was impossible not to join. Not only was Rachel's laughter infectious, but her excitable energy was too.

Quinn was enticed by the whirlwind that was Rachel Berry.

Quinn jumped off the desk and joined Rachel. Rachel grabbed Quinn's hands and spun them around a couple of times, their laughter bouncing off of the walls.

They slowed to a stop and waited until the room stopping spinning before Quinn turned and bent at the knee slightly.

"Hop on."

"You mean for a piggyback?" Rachel questioned and Quinn nodded "I might be too heavy…"

"Nonsense!" Quinn protested immediately "you're tiny! And most definitely not heavy. Now get on."

Rachel smiled and got onto Quinn's back, wrapping her legs around the blonde's waist and her arms around her neck. Quinn stood up straighter.

"Let's ride."

Quinn took off running, skipping, galloping around the room with a not heavy at all Rachel squealing merrily on her back.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Rachel said as they passed the desk once again.

Quinn drew to a halt and felt Rachel leaning over and then returning to her back properly.

"You okay?" Quinn asked.

"Yup," Rachel held out her hand in front of Quinn's face to reveal a cookie in her hand "a reward for my noble steed." Rachel held the biscuit to Quinn's mouth and the blonde let it in.

"Schmooo gwood." Quinn mumbled around the cookie and Rachel giggled again.

"Go, pony!"

Rachel pressed her legs harder around Quinn and Quinn's breathing picked up a little, but didn't let on.

"M'kay, m'kay!" Quinn swallowed the cookie and then took off running around the room with Rachel in tow.

Quinn didn't know what bad thing had happened in Rachel's past, but whatever it was – she seemed to be pretty over it.

And at the end of lunch, when they were packing away their things into their bags – Rachel pulled her into a tight embrace which Quinn returned wholeheartedly.

"I'm really glad you moved here, Quinn." Rachel breathed into her ear and Quinn felt her eyelids flicker shut against her will.

"So am I."

Rachel squeezed Quinn that little bit tighter and Quinn's heartstrings tugged that little bit harder too.

* * *

"So, are you gonna tell me more about this Blaine character?" Kurt prompted, nudging Quinn's arm as they warmed up in Gym.

"What more do you want to know?" Quinn asked, as she stretched her legs.

She could hear Puck muttering with some of the other boys behind her but she didn't really care.

"Oh I don't know, how he looks, his personality, what he likes, what he doesn't, how good his singing is – oh my God… What if he's not as good as me? Or worse, what if he's better?" Kurt gasped "I can't have that sort of competition in a relationship, I just can't."

"Kurt, calm down," Quinn straightened up and Puck whined behind her "he's good looking, not so much so that you have to be jealous all the time but so much so that he _could _pass as part-time model."

Kurt's expression brightened.

"He's honestly one quite sweet really. We lost touch, being in different schools… but he was there for me…" Quinn lowered her voice "when I was pregnant."

Kurt gasped.

"Is he the one who knocked you up?" Kurt asked quietly and Quinn scrunched up her features.

"No! He's as gay as you, Kurt," Quinn told him and Kurt relaxed "he let me stay with him – when my Dad kicked me out. But when I was let back in, I didn't really get to talk to him again… We kinda lost contact after that – especially with me moving."

Kurt nodded slowly.

"Anyway, his voice is different to yours but equal in talent." Quinn told him and Kurt smiled at her.

"And when do I get to meet my future husband?" Quinn laughed.

"I don't know, okay? I haven't spoken to him in months… I didn't even tell him that I was moving." Quinn shrugged and Kurt slapped her shoulder.

"How dare you not speak to him!" Kurt admonished "that is extremely rude, Quinn Fabray!"

"You're not even dating him yet!" Quinn huffed and shoved him back.

"Speaking of dating…" Kurt nodded to Rachel who was across the school field, running track between Mercedes and Sam, both of whom were trying not to look worn out or in the least bit disgusting for the other.

Rachel merely smirked from her position in the middle of them.

"We're not dating." Quinn muttered, scuffing her shoes on the ground, a small pout upon her lips.

"Aw, is Miss Fabray teetering dangerously on the edge of the friend zone?" Kurt mocked and Quinn shoved him again "seriously though, Blondie, you're gonna have to make your move soon."

"But what if she doesn't like me in that way… like, _at all_?" Quinn replied seriously and Kurt shrugged.

"Wow, you're helpful." Quinn grumbled.

She looked back over to where Rachel was running around the track again. She tried really hard to not look at Rachel's ass or her magnificent legs, but she just couldn't.

"Looking good in your shorts, Fabray." Puck hollered as he walked past her, adding a wink and a whistle with it.

"Get a hobby, Puckerman." Quinn called back and Puck deflated slightly as his friends mocked him, shoving him and ruffling his Mohawk.

Quinn rolled her eyes and her attention was caught by Coach Sylvester yelling through her megaphone at the Cheerios – who were excused from proper gym class to do cheerleading practise.

"You're sloppy, sloppy babies!" Sue screamed "Lopez, show these atrocious ogres how you hold a fellow swamp creature up in the pyramid!"

Santana nodded sternly and dragged Brittany with her before grabbing a smaller baby Cheerio and helping her up and onto her shoulders. Santana and Brittany held her securely, and though her upper body wobbled, Santana and Brittany's grips on her legs kept her steady.

"Congratulations, you don't fail at absolutely _everything_. Hold it for five more minutes, other minions of the anti-Schue, copy." Sue barked through the megaphone before rubbing her temples in frustration.

Quinn rolled her eyes and looked back to the track. She remembered being Head Cheerleader – having the responsibility of being the best in every single aspect of cheerleading was involved, as well as having to be a role model for the other, _as well _as having to instil fear in them. She didn't miss cheerleading one single bit.

Quinn watched as Finn jogged onto the track and jogged up after Rachel.

"What's he up to?" Kurt scoffed as he watched it too.

Finn held out his arms and then wrapped them around Rachel's waist, picking her up in his strong grip. Rachel let out a scream and Finn laughed.

"Gotcha!" Finn chuckled heartily as he swung Rachel around playfully.

Quinn's small smile at the action died in seconds as Rachel's screaming didn't stop – and they were less than playful.

"What the-" Before Kurt could finish his sentence, there was a small scream that came from someone else.

They looked over briefly to see Santana had tossed the tiny Cheerio to the ground without second thought and was charging over like a bull to the track.

"STOP IT! STOP IT! GET OFF ME!" Rachel screamed and Finn stopped tossing her about.

"Rach?" Finn's cheery smile dropped and worry took over his features.

"GET OFF OF HER!" Santana roared, running over like her life depended on it.

Quinn and Kurt began running over too – though no one's speed could match Santana's.

Finn put Rachel down just as Santana got to them.

Rachel's knees buckled but Santana caught her before she fell. The Cheerio held a shaking Rachel close to her chest as Puck barrelled into Finn and knocked him to the ground.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" Coach Beiste demanded as she stomped over.

Sam had taken to trying to pull Puck off of Finn and Quinn approached Rachel. Santana used one hand to shove her back though.

"You stay away from her, Peach." Santana growled and then held Rachel tighter, lowering her head to whisper into her half-sister's ear "you're okay, Rach, you're alright."

"I was just messing. I just picked her up in like a bear hug, I didn't mean to scare her. I promise!" Finn exclaimed as Puck was finally pulled off of him.

Kurt helped Finn to his feet but Quinn just kept her eyes on Rachel.

"Is she okay?" Coach Beiste asked to Santana who glared at her.

"What the fuck do you think?"

"I'm fine," Rachel removed herself from Santana's arms and forced a smile "I just got a little spooked, that's all. I'm sorry, Finn."

"No, I'm the one that should be sorry." Finn replied, putting on his 'charming' lopsided smile for her and Rachel ducked her head.

"Alright then, back to sport people." Coach Beiste had to shove a few people before most of the lot began moving away.

"Are you okay?" Quinn asked softly to Rachel who just kept up her strained smile.

"Absolutely."

Santana slid her hand into Rachel's and walked her out of earshot of everybody else and they exchanged a few quiet words and a hug before they parted again. Rachel returned to the track and looked like she was running off what had just happened.

Santana was walking slowly back to the Cheerios, looking back over her shoulder multiple times, her features painted with worry.

"That was surreal." Kurt let out a puff of air and fixed his hair.

"She's not okay, Kurt. She looked like she was about to have a full on panic attack." Quinn hissed to him as they walked back to their spot.

"Finn always has always been a little bit tactless." Kurt tutted and Quinn shook her head.

"Sure."

She didn't want to talk about anything sensitive about Rachel with Kurt – she had Rachel's trust. Now, she was just worried.

* * *

Quinn wasn't surprised when Rachel didn't turn up to Glee – but she was slightly freaked out by the fact that the tiny brunette hadn't texted or called Santana to tell her where she was.

So Santana was a _little _on edge.

She'd _only_ verbally abused Finn seventeen times in the past eight minutes.

Quinn excused herself to the bathroom just before Tina started singing – she hoped that Tina didn't mind. Quinn wandered the empty halls, looking into classrooms and girls bathrooms in hope of finding Rachel.

It was unlikely that Rachel had left school – seeing as anyone who could give her a lift was currently in the choir room.

Quinn was about to turn and go back when she came across a poster for the swim club. It was a longshot, but she hoped it would pay off.

Quinn took off at a jog, she had to reach the other side of the school of course. Quinn stopped outside the doors of the swimming locker rooms and took a moment to regain her breath.

She didn't want to be wheezing if she came across Rachel.

Once her breathing was back to normal, she slowly pushed open the door of the girls' locker room.

"Rach?" She called out tentatively "Rachel?"

Quinn entered the room slowly and looked around. She was about to leave when she heard a small sob.

Quinn quickly walked around a row of lockers and found Rachel sat against them, her head buried into her knees and her body shaking with sobs. Quinn quickly dropped down beside her and wrapped her arms around the smaller girl.

"I'm s-supposed to b-be okay now…" Rachel wept "I-I'm meant to be o-okay." Quinn pulled Rachel closer and rested her chin atop of the brunette's head.

And in that moment Quinn knew that she'd been wrong. Rachel was not okay.

Far from it.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait, your reviews on the last chapter were lovely as always. I promise the next chapter will be sooner. (New chapters in progress for all other neglected stories on my page as well as two new ones in the making). Okay people, we're getting into some of the heavier stuff now. And, as you can see, Santana has the wrong way of doing things a lot - but she really does care about Rachel. Also, you'll be finding out more about their history - but don't forget, Rachel isn't the only one with a past. **


	9. Chapter 9: The Giver of Advice

Part Nine

Quinn was pressing her phone to her ear, stood resting against cool metal a little way down the row of lockers from where Rachel was still curled up, though her sobs were calming down.

The phone rang twice before it was picked up.

"Who the fuck is this?" Santana's voice huffed down the line.

"Santana! No phones! Finn was in the middle of singing!" Quinn could hear Mr Schue snapping in the background.

"Oh whatever, Grease Monkey, like anyone was listening anyways," Santana retorted before returning to the phone "lemme repeat, who the fuck is this, why the hell are you calling me and how did you get this number?"

"It's Quinn."

"Who?"

"Quinn Fabray," Quinn let out a heavy breath "Princess Peach."

She heard a sigh of recognition escape Santana's lips.

"How did you get this number? And why are _you _calling me? I thought you went to the bathroom – if you're calling whilst peeing that's fucking disgusting!" Santana spat out in slight disgusted outrage.

"Wha- n-no, NO!" Quinn replied quickly "I just got your number from Rachel and I just thought that…"

"I told you to stay away from her! What don't you understand –"

"SANTANA! I just got your number from _RACHEL_."

There was a pause for there was a sound of chairs – and people – being knocked to the ground.

"Where are you? I'm on my way!"

"Girls' swimming lockers." Quinn told her and Santana hung up on her.

The blonde turned back to look at Rachel who was still quietly whimpering into her knees. Quinn's head dropped to rest against the closet locker and she felt her heart aching.

They only had to wait a minute before Santana came charging into the room. Santana stopped next to Quinn, looking down at Rachel's small, shaking form but only for a heartbeat and in a second she was on her knees and wrapping her arms around her sibling.

Santana looked over her shoulder at Quinn.

"You. Out."

Quinn's mouth just flapped open and closed a couple of times.

"B-b-b-bu-"

"Did I fucking stutter? This has nothing to do with you. Get out!"

Quinn's eyes flickered to Rachel who didn't lift her head from Santana's chest or even make a slight effort to look at her.

Quinn swallowed heavily and stumbled out of the room.

* * *

That night, Quinn couldn't sleep at all. She just kept thinking about Rachel. How she found her in the locker room – crying her eyes out.

How could someone keeps emotions like that so bottled up? How on Earth did Quinn think that Rachel was okay? And more importantly, how would Rachel be tomorrow?

Would she come in, bags under her eyes from a lack of sleep? Red from too much crying?

Quinn's eyes grew painful from lack of sleep but her brain wouldn't let it happen.

She needed to see Rachel.

* * *

Upon entering the school the following morning, Quinn realised that she shouldn't have been surprised that Rachel looked as though nothing had happened at all. She just looked like same old beautiful Rachel.

However, when Rachel's now evidently tired eyes caught Quinn's she slammed her locker shut and took off down the hallway – disappearing into the crowd of people.

Quinn stood still, a little shell-shocked.

"What's up?" Sam asked as he moved to stand beside her "did Rachel just run away from you?"

"Um, yeah, I think she just did." Quinn mumbled in response.

Sam sighed and put an arm around her shoulder.

"How was she yesterday?" Sam questioned and Quinn raised an eyebrow at him.

"How do you think?" Quinn grumbled and Sam rolled his eyes.

"Gees, woman. Calm down."

"I'm sorry," Quinn groaned "I got little to no sleep last night."

Sam looked at her and smirked.

"Thinking about Rachel, huh?" he prompted and Quinn jabbed her elbow into his ribs.

"Not like that, pervert." Sam just laughed and shook her shoulder "anyway, how's it going with Miss Mercedes Jones?"

Quinn decided to quickly change the subject; all thought of Rachel right now was depressing her.

"Uh-uh, nothing more than before. I can only make moves on Mercedes when you've made moves on Rachel and right now it looks like it's going pretty pathetically in that department." Sam told her and Quinn huffed loudly.

"Whoa, did She-Hulk roll out of the wrong side of bed this morning, yo?" Artie asked as he rolled up beside them.

"NO!" Quinn barked before taking a steadying breath and trying again "no… just Sam's being an ass."

"That's just normal for him." Artie replied and Sam gasped mock-indignantly, his hand falling to land dramatically against his chest.

"That's so hurtful." Sam uttered daintily before they all broke out into laughter.

"Just me or did he sounds totally like Kurt just then?" Artie asked and they all laughed even harder.

"Anyway, are you gonna hang out with us today at lunch? We've missed you, woman." Artie asked and Quinn nodded.

"Well, sure… I don't think I have any homework…"

"C'mon, girl. We all know what you've been doing. Or _who _you've been doing." Artie interrupted and Sam leant over to high five him.

Quinn rolled her eyes.

"Fine – but I assume that after yesterday Santana won't let Rachel out of her sight for a second, so…" Quinn tailed off with a shrug.

"Or just that fact that Rachel doesn't want to see you." Sam added.

"Hold up – what's happening?" Artie asked. Quinn opened her mouth to just say that it was nothing, but Sam cut her off.

"Rachel's avoiding Quinn."

"What? Why?" Artie questioned and Quinn growled before slapping both boys simultaneously upside the head.

"Shut up, both of you." Quinn glared at them both before walking ahead down the corridor.

"I think it's her time of the month." Artie whispered conspiratorially.

Sam scrunched up his nose and nodded, presuming that Artie had the correct answer.

Santana and Rachel passed them and Artie turned to greet them.

"Hey, Rachel… Are you okay?." Artie greeted. Rachel just kept her eyes downcast and Santana sneered at them.

"What am I? Flypaper for freaks? Buzz off." Santana shoved Artie's chair with her shoe and it pushed back into Sam, who stopped them from toppling backwards.

"Leave us alone." Santana pulled Rachel closer and stomped away with her.

* * *

Quinn did meet the two boys in the choir room along with Kurt and Mercedes. However, Quinn was distracted in a heartbeat as Rachel entered the room with Santana and Puck at her sides.

Santana spotted Quinn sat up in the risers, sneered at her and directed Rachel to sit with her at the piano. Puck sat atop the piano, talking to them both as Santana played with Rachel's hair before deciding to tie it up in a ponytail.

Quinn watched the tender action and really began to wonder about how Santana acted at home.

Did she have soft toys and sing the 'Sound of Music'? Probably not…

"Q!" Kurt shook Quinn's shoulder to regain her attention and Quinn's head snapped around to look at him.

"What?" She asked and Kurt smiled sympathetically at her.

"She'll come around, Blondie. She's probably just scared because you caught her at a weak moment." Kurt assured and Quinn nodded slowly, her eyes flickering over to Rachel for a second before looking back to where Sam was having an arm wrestling competition with Artie.

Seeing as Sam kept glancing over at Mercedes to gage her reaction, he was distracted enough that Artie overpowered him.

Sam tore his eyes away from Mercedes to see Artie's hand in the winning position.

"Wha-what?" Sam laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his neck, looking back over to Mercedes who was chuckling quietly.

"Well thanks for letting me win, Sam. I know you did it just to try and make me feel better about myself." Artie spoke up.

When Sam looked at him questioningly, Artie let his eyes drift to Mercedes for a quick moment and then back to Sam's, who then slowly nodded in understanding.

Mercedes had an adoring smile on her face.

"Sure, dude." Sam clapped Artie on the shoulder with a broad smile and Kurt and Quinn shared a look.

Quinn glanced over to Rachel once again and saw the tiny brunette leaning into Santana, her head leaning against her sister's shoulder. Both girls and Puck were watching Brittany in amusement as the blonde dancer tried to cheer Rachel up by performing a goofy dance.

Quinn smiled softly at the scene. She could see Santana whispering into Rachel's ear and saw that whatever these words were, they were having a visible effect on Rachel. She seemed calmer.

Rachel's eyes locked onto Quinn's for a millisecond before they returned to watching Brittany's dance.

Quinn ducked her head and continued to spend the rest of lunch listening to Kurt advising Sam on moisturiser.

* * *

It was during English that anything exciting happened. Quinn was sat next to Santana again, on the last leg of their project.

She was in the middle of writing up a quote when her phone vibrated against her leg from it's place in her bag. Quinn looked quickly to Santana who wasn't paying the slightest piece of attention to her and then to Miss Hagberg who was asleep.

Quinn rolled her eyes and grabbed her phone and checked the message. Her pulse picked up when she realised that the message was from Rachel.

_If you can, could me meet me promptly in the girls bathroom nearest the choir room? Thank you, Rachel. _

Quinn closed her hand around the phone and nudged Santana.

"What?" grumbled Santana, tearing her eyes away from her work to look at the blonde.

"I'm just going to the bathroom, if Miss Hagberg wakes up – could you tell her where I am?" Quinn asked and Santana shrugged her shoulders.

"I'd be delighted." Santana drawled sarcastically.

"Um, thanks…" Quinn said slowly, not quite sure how to react.

Santana rolled her eyes.

"Yes, sarcasm _is _just one more helpful service I offer." Santana sneered at her before looking back to her work.

Quinn hesitated before getting up and walking out of the room.

Santana's eyes watched her leave, eyeing the phone in her hand.

* * *

"Rachel?" Quinn whispered as she entered the girls' bathroom. Rachel emerged from behind the row of stalls and Quinn closed the door behind her.

"I-I thought you weren't coming." Rachel spoke up nervously, wringing her hands together.

"I'll always come when you need me." Quinn replied, stepping closer but keeping a good distance between them – just like Rachel had been doing all day.

"Thanks." Rachel mumbled quietly, her eyes glancing to the floor rather than meeting Quinn's eyes.

"Rachel… I- Are w-we still friends?" Quinn asked unsurely.

Rachel looked up from the floor quickly and nodded, taking a few steps closer.

"Yes. Of course we are!"

"So that's why you've been ignoring me all day?" Quinn hinted and Rachel's step faltered.

"I'm really sorry, Quinn…" Rachel took a deep breath and clasped her hands together tighter "I was just scared… no one except Santana has really seen me that vulnerable before… I didn't want you asking questions."

Quinn nodded slowly.

"I get it, Rachel… I get that you don't want to talk about some things, but you don't have to block me out either. I know we've only known each other a couple of weeks and so I really don't mean that much, but I that we were friends." Quinn told her and Rachel's eyes filled with tears.

"Quinn! Y-you do mean a lot to me! I promise you that… I just… Yesterday brought up some bad feelings for me and I've been trying really hard to not pass that bad feeling onto you."

"I don't understand…" Quinn replied with a furrowed brow.

"I'm not saying it right," Rachel shook her head self-depreciatively "I meant that, you've brought a new burst of light into my life, Quinn. You're smiley, charming, bright, loveable... I've really needed that and I didn't know how much before. You have no idea how much better you've made me just in the span of a couple of weeks. So you _do _mean a lot to me, Quinn. A lot more than you think. I was in such a dark place yesterday and today too… I didn't want to associate the brightness with the darkness. I didn't want to way you down with my problems and lose your brightness…" Rachel trailed off and looked up to see Quinn staring at her with wide, dopey eyes.

Quinn couldn't believe it. She was more infatuated with Rachel than before. The mini-hopeful Quinn inside her mind was running around at full speed whilst the other mini-Quinn's just got dizzy.

"I…" Quinn shook her head to get Hopeful Quinn to stop make her so dizzy and used one hand to grip onto the sinks slightly "you mean a lot to me too, Rachel. We're friends, right?"

Rachel nodded as Quinn took a step closer.

"And that means that I'm not just there to make you bright day to day, it means that I'm here to be there for you when you're not feeling so bright too. I _want _to be there for you. If I'm your brightness then I wanna guide you through the darkness. Okay?" Quinn told her and Rachel launched forwards and captured her in a fierce embrace.

Quinn held her back tightly. She could feel Rachel crying into her neck so just rubbed her back softly.

"You're my best friend, Quinn." Rachel wept and Quinn rested the sides of their heads together.

"And you're mine, Rach."

_You're so much more than that. _

"Do you mind a rain check on that duet?" Rachel asked and Quinn shook her head.

"It's fine. I'm just glad you like me again."

"I never stopped."

* * *

Quinn didn't see Rachel again until the very end of the day, where she spotted Santana interrupting a conversation between Rachel and Finn.

"C'mon, Rach. Mom wants us home." Santana grumbled, dragging her half-sister away.

"So you're listening to what Mom says now?" Rachel asked in surprise and Santana glared at Quinn as they passed her.

"No. Just I swore at her so much for telling me what to do she said she'd ground me if I didn't bring you straight home." Santana muttered and Rachel sighed.

Quinn didn't hear her reply but just rolled her eyes.

Of course Santana would be just as horrible to her own mother as she is to everybody else.

Figures Rachel is the _only _exception.

* * *

That day when Quinn got home, Judy could tell that her mood was significantly better than that morning and the day before.

"Good day?" Judy asked as Quinn joined her on the couch – once again watching _Judge Judy_.

"Really good thanks." Quinn replied with a bold smile, but kept her eyes trained on the TV.

"Something to do with Rachel, perhaps?" Judy questioned and Quinn rolled her eyes "come on! I'm your mother, I'm allowed to be excited about your girlfriend!"

"She's _not _my girlfriend!"

"_Not _yet." Judy tapped her on the nose and Quinn pushed her away.

"Don't get overexcited, Mom." Quinn eyed a tub of ice cream on her mother's lap and snatched it away.

"Hush now, I'm happy for you," Judy took the tub back and slapped Quinn on the back of the hand "my ice cream. I bought it."

"Whatever," Quinn sighed.

Judy rolled her eyes and put the tub in Quinn's lap, before grabbing her daughter's legs and resting them over her own lap.

"Now, when do I get to see Rachel again?" Judy questioned and Quinn chuckled, taking a spoonful of ice cream.

"I don't know… whenever…" Quinn shrugged.

She then promptly pouted when her mother took the ice cream back.

"Proper answers, Quinnie, you know how I feel about the mumbling!" Judy scolded.

"Fine. You can see her whenever you want."

"Tonight?"

"Not then." Quinn quickly said and Judy huffed.

"Tomorrow?" Judy asked and Quinn groaned.

"Does it matter?"

"Yes! I want to see more of your future girlfriend!" Judy told her sternly.

"Fine! You can see her more _when_ she's my girlfriend!" Quinn relented, reaching for the ice cream but Judy held it out of reach "Mom!"

"Does this mean you're properly going for it?"

Quinn reached for the ice cream, but it was lifted higher.

"If I say yes, can I have some ice cream?" Quinn asked.

"Yes."

"Then yes." Judy handed it back and Quinn grinned.

She was about to take a spoonful when her phone rang.

"Haha!" Judy declared in triumph as the ice cream was thrust back in her direction.

Quinn grabbed her phone out of her pocket and fell off the couch when she read that it was Rachel calling her.

"Oh my gosh, is it Rachel?" Judy asked as Quinn scrambled to get to her feet again.

"Yes, now shut up!" Quinn hissed before answering the phone "hi!"

"_Um, hi, Quinn." _

"Don't tell me to shut up!" Judy reprimanded loudly and Quinn shushed her.

"Sorry about that." Quinn said down the phone to Rachel.

"_Quinn! Apologise to your mother right now!_"

"W-What?" Quinn stuttered at the sudden change of events.

"_Now!_"

Quinn turned back to Judy slowly.

"Rachel said to tell you I'm sorry, Mom." Quinn mumbled and Judy grinned. She should just consider renaming herself Quinn 'Whipped' Fabray.

"Really?" Judy leapt up and snatched the phone away from Quinn "hi, Rachel! It's me Judy!"

"_Hello again, Mrs Fabray…_" Rachel replied with a small giggle.

"Your voice is adorable on the phone!" Judy turned back to a struggling Quinn, who she was holding back "isn't her voice adorable?"

"Yes! NOW GIVE ME THE PHONE!" Quinn pushed Judy aside and grabbed the phone once more "hi!"

Quinn ran out of the room and up to her room so her mother couldn't steal the phone again.

"Sorry about that Rachel – my mom's a little insane." Quinn breathed as she flopped back onto her bed.

There was a slight pause.

"_She's nice_." Rachel replied quietly.

"Yeah… she has her moments." Quinn replied with a chuckle, she let it trail off before she continued "are you okay?"

"_Yeah… yeah, I'm fine…_" Rachel told her unsurely.

"Rach… if there's something upsetting you, you can tell me." Quinn assured her.

"_No… it's not that… I just… I need some advice_." Quinn frowned.

"Um… okay. Go ahead."

There was another pause before Rachel spoke.

"_Finn… asked me out_." Rachel told her slowly and Quinn scoffed.

"I hope you let him down gently again." Quinn chuckled.

"_I didn't_…" Rachel replied quietly and Quinn fell off the bed and smacked face down on the ground.

Quinn scrambled to sit up again.

"W-wait… you're going out with _Finn_?" Quinn asked – almost spat.

"_Well… that's why I wanted y-your advice. I didn't know whether I should or not…_"

"NO!" Quinn shouted, a little too loudly.

She took a deep breath before continuing.

"No, I-I don't think that that's a good idea." Quinn responded calmly.

"_R-really? But he was sweet and… and_…"

"Rachel! Finn's an ass. I've been here a couple of weeks and I know that!" Quinn exclaimed.

"_I don't think he's an ass… Misunderstood, per-perhaps… I trust Finn. And that's important to me. I don't trust a lot of people, but he's one of them… Quinn?_" Rachel replied steadily.

Quinn rubbed the heel of her palm across her forehead for a moment, trying to think of what to say.

"What about Santana?"

"_I'm telling her that I'm staying with Noah_." Rachel informed her.

"And what did Puck have to say about that?" Quinn questioned.

"_H-he wasn't entirely happy, but he'll do it_."

"It kinda sounds like you've made up your mind." Quinn mumbled sadly.

"_I think I have_…" Rachel replied slowly "_Quinn, I need you to let me know that I'm not making a terrible mistake here. Please. You're my best friend. I need you to reassure me._"

A hundred billion pros and cons ran through Quinn's mind in a small matter of seconds. She could easily say no. She could tell Rachel to date her instead.

It was easy. One word. No. Just say no. Tell her you like her.

Say no.

"You're not making a mistake."

WHAT? Did she really just do that?

"_Thank you, Quinn. Thanks for being honest with me._"

Quinn dug her fingernails into her palm but stayed quiet, except to say;

"Sure."

Had she really just told Rachel to go out with Finn? She really was self-sabotaging.

"Look, Rach – I've got another call… so…"

"_Oh! Okay, that's fine!_" Rachel replied lightly. Quinn desperately tried to ignore the hint of sadness in Rachel's voice.

"Bye then."

Quinn hung up quickly and threw her phone across the room. Quinn hung her head and let a couple of tears roll down her cheeks.

After ten minutes, she realised that she hadn't stopped crying and told herself to get it together.

So she'd just told the girl she liked to go for it with someone else? Not that big of a deal.

Quinn crawled to where her phone had landed and dialled another number.

"_Hey, Q!_" Sam exclaimed cheerily.

Quinn let out a small sob and she could practically hear the smile fall from his large lips.

"_Wait – Q, what's wrong? What happened?_" Sam asked urgently.

"S-she's going out with Finn." Quinn managed to say with clarity through the lump rising in her dry throat.

"_Oh, Quinn… I'm so sorry…_" Sam sighed sympathetically "_do you want me to come over?_"

Quinn thought about it… then she realised that she really didn't want Sam to have to deal with the blubbering mess that she was.

"N-no… Just… Ask Mercedes out. Just do it before some other guy comes along and snaps her up. Just do it, Sam."

Quinn kept wiping her eyes but the tears wouldn't disappear.

"_I-I will_." Sam replied, his voice low and soft.

"Promise?"

"_I promise, Q. I'll do it tomorrow,_" Sam swallowed heavily "_it's gonna be okay, Quinn. It won't last_."

"That's what I'm afraid of, Sam!" Quinn exclaimed "I don't want him to hurt her! I don't care about _me_! I'm scared of him hurting her more than she's already been hurt!"

"_We'll talk to Santana – she'll stop it!_" Sam suddenly said brightly.

"No… Rachel will know I told. I'm her best friend. I promised her…"

"_Fine. I'll tell Santana. I'll say Finn told me! We'll stop this, Q!_" Sam urged.

"No, Sam… Just… don't." Quinn sighed slowly.

"QUINNIE! CAN YOU COME HERE PLEASE?" Judy called up the stairs.

"I gotta go, Sam…" Quinn muttered.

"_Okay… Text me later, alright?_"

"I will. Bye." Quinn hung up again and slowly removed herself from the floor.

She trudged downstairs, not even bothering to fix her appearance. Quinn stumbled into the living room where Judy was nowhere to be found.

"Mom?" Quinn called out with her hoarse voice.

"I think there's a surprise at the door for you, Quinnie!" Judy replied lightly from the kitchen, unaware to the heartbreak her daughter just went through.

Quinn sighed heavily and dragged her feet to the door. She swung it open and her jaw dropped.

"Quinn!" Blaine exclaimed, still in his Dalton uniform and a bag swung over his back – his cheery smile suddenly melted "you look terrible!"

"Thanks." Quinn said thickly and Blaine rushed into the house, dropping his bag and pulling her into a hug as tears filled her eyes again and streamed down her cheeks.

"What the hell's been going on, Quinn? I don't hear from you for months, you move away, I have to locate your mother's phone number to find you and you answer the door looking like you've just cried your eyes out! What's happened?"

Blaine's voice was full of worry and slight resentment, but he still held onto her tightly.

Judy skipped into the hall – but stopped short at the sight of her daughter crying into Blaine's shoulder.

"Surprise…" Judy said quietly.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry about the wait, I hope you enjoyed as always. The next **_**might **_**be a little Faberry heavy, but there will be plenty o' Santana/Rachel. Also for those who want, there is a smidgen of Klaine and Samcedes. Anyway – a big thank you to beaner008 who kinda inspired me to keep on writing. Reviews are always welcome. Now I'm gonna go cry over Marley Rose. Until next time. **


	10. Chapter 10: The Bad-Date-Antidote

**A/N: You all have such little faith in me.**

* * *

Chapter Ten

Blaine was sat next to Quinn on the couch whilst Judy was pacing nervously around the kitchen.

"I'm so sorry, Blaine." Quinn choked out after a minute, turning to look at her friend with tears in her eyes.

Blaine cocked his head to the side slightly and looked at her sympathetically.

"It's okay, Quinn…"

"_No_," Quinn cut him off "it's not. I should've called or something…"

"I'm not going to say that I wasn't shocked and a little hurt when I went round your house only to find a little old Puerto Rican woman living there – who then thought it appropriate to get rid of me by jabbing me repeatedly with the end of her broom," Blaine told her with a slight chuckle "but I'm not mad at you."

"You should be – I left without saying goodbye."

Quinn wiped at her eyes with the edges of her sleeves, an action which caused Blaine to grimace.

"It's _okay_," Blaine insisted, pulling out a pack of tissues from his navy blazer pocket and handing it to her "just… why?"

"I don't know… We were so quick to leave Westerville… I was so quick to leaves yours that… I don't know."

Quinn failed at finding an explanation because really, there wasn't one.

"I think I know," Blaine cleared his throat and shifted on the couch slightly "after everything that had happened; being kicked out, moving in with me… Beth… the bullying… I don't blame you for taking the chance to leave it all behind. Judy was right in taking you back in, she was right to move you somewhere new. Westerville wasn't good for you… To be honest, I think it was draining you."

Quinn just took it all in. Maybe that's the reason she'd been looking for.

"However, I don't know what Lima is doing for you…" Blaine rested his hand over hers "why are you crying, Quinn? What's happened? You're not being bullied again are you?"

"No… It's not that… I-I have friends here." Quinn told him and Blaine bumped her shoulder.

"That's _good_, right? I never knew the full extent of what they put you through back in Westerville, but I could see what it was doing to you," Quinn ducked her eye line slightly so Blaine moved his head to be in her line of sight "do you think I didn't hear you crying at night? Because I did."

"I'm not being bullied here, Blaine…" Quinn assured him and Blaine nodded slowly, accepting her answer.

"Okay… So what is it then?" Blaine questioned "what's got you so upset?"

Quinn hesitated before replying.

"What do you do if you made a promise to someone not to tell but they might get hurt or something?"

"A promise is a promise. If you break it, it isn't a promise anymore." Blaine replied with a small shrug.

"But what if someone gets in danger or something?" Quinn asked and Blaine frowned at her.

"Why would you make a promise that might get someone in danger?"

"Because a friend is a friend. Friends don't snitch." Quinn answered and Blaine moved his head closer to her.

"But a friend who lets you get hurt… isn't a friend."

Quinn buried her head in her hands and exhaled heavily.

Judy entered the room suddenly.

"Is it about Rachel?" Quinn snapped up her head to glare at her mother.

"Who's Rachel?" Blaine asked slowly, his eyes flickering between the two women.

Quinn slowly tore her stony eyes away from her mother and back to her old best friend.

"A new friend of mine…" Quinn replied simply. Judy rolled her eyes.

"Quinnie! She's a bit more than that isn't she?"

"_NO_!" Quinn shouted and then dropped her head into her hands and started crying again.

"Oh, Quinnie, I'm so sorry… I didn't mean to upset you…" Judy gushed quickly.

Blaine wrapped an arm around Quinn's waist.

"Do you… have a… a crush on this Rachel girl?" Blaine asked steadily and Quinn nodded.

"And she's just agreed to go on a date with an absolute jackass!" Quinn sobbed "and she asked _me _whether she was making the right decision or not and just _guess _what I went and said."

"Quinn…" Blaine sighed, resting his head on her shoulder "use the tissues."

He pointed to the packet in her hand and Quinn rolled her eyes, ripping into the packet and using the first one available to wipe at her eyes.

"What have you got yourself into?" Blaine muttered, and Quinn breathed out a laugh.

There was a sudden knock at the door. Judy backed away from the pair and went to open it. In seconds, there was someone stood in front of them.

Quinn looked up to see Sam stood there, a Wii remote in hand.

"Sam?" Quinn wiped her eyes again "what are - why've you got a remote?"

Sam was slightly pink in the face and breathing heavily; he looked to his hand and frowned.

"I was playing Mario when you called – I just kinda ran out the house without thinking," Sam looked back to her "I ran all the way across town to look after you and – who's this guy?"

Blaine stood up and held out a hand for Sam to shake.

"I'm Quinn's best friend, B-"

"Actually, I'm Q's best mate," Sam scoffed "I'm Sam."

"Um… guys?" Quinn tried to interrupt but the two boys were locked in a staring match.

"How long have you even known Quinn?" Blaine asked.

"A month – you?"

Blaine scoffed, placing his hands on his hips.

"Try five years."

"Who even are you? Cos Q certainly hasn't mentioned you before." Sam looked Blaine up and down, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Actually-"

"Blaine," the Warbler replied "Blaine Anderson."

Sam's scowl dropped slightly.

"Oh… The one Q's been ignoring, right?" Sam looked to Quinn for assurance, asking with his eyes if he was correct.

Blaine's jaw dropped and he spun to look at Quinn.

"Ignoring? On purpose?"

"N-no. Not on purpose. I just… by the time I thought about calling you it felt like too long…" Quinn stood and moved between the two guys "anyway, Sam - this is Blaine; he was my best friend back in Westerville. Blaine, this is Sam, my best friend here in Lima. Got it?"

"So this is the guy you want to set up with Kurt?" Sam asked, cocking his head to the side slightly.

"You're trying to set me up? When was I gonna hear about this?" Blaine questioned.

"He doesn't look gay."

"Excuse me?"

"You don't look gay." Sam repeated and Blaine rolled his eyes.

"You got a problem with it?"

"No – just the only other gay guy I've met it Kurt – he's all I've got to go off when it comes to gay guys. Sorry dude." Sam shrugged.

"Aren't you both supposed to be comforting me or something?" Quinn asked and the two boys turned to look at her and then back at each other.

"That was kinda selfish." Sam said and Blaine nodded.

"Yeah, we're conversing and all she wants is to talk about herself." Blaine replied mockingly.

Quinn rolled her eyes before taking a seat back on the couch. Sam and Blaine moved to sit either side of her.

"Blaine, I have one question and there is a right answer and a wrong one. Do you play Super Mario Brothers?" Sam asked.

Quinn held her breath as they both waited for Blaine's answer.

"Only _a lot_." Blaine replied eagerly. Sam winked at Blaine and the two boys shared a smile. They simultaneously looked at Quinn who was smiling too.

"What?"

"You're not crying anymore." Blaine pointed out. Quinn gaped slightly at the two boys. She'd never thought that people really cared too much about her. But here were two boys, strangers to each other, who united in seconds just in the name of cheering her up.

"So, what are we gonna do about Rachel?" Sam asked, clapping his hands together.

* * *

With Dalton Academy under constructions after one of ceilings caved in, Quinn learnt that Blaine had been given permission by his parents to stay the time he had off at hers – granted he'd find it.

So Blaine had therefore decided to be a bit of a creep and chose to accompany Quinn to school the following day.

"Do you really have to wear your blazer?" Quinn groaned as she took in the stares fellow students were giving them as the pair walked down the McKinley hallways.

"I think it makes me look classy." Blaine shrugged and brushed invisible specks off of his navy blazer.

"It makes you look gay." Quinn told him as she stopped at her locker and opened it.

"Good, it'll help me pick up guys then." Blaine replied sassily as he leant his back against the locker next to hers.

Quinn opened her mouth to reply but the small clearing of a throat interrupted her. The blonde turned to see Rachel stood cautiously behind her, wringing her hands and her eyes darting up and down Quinn's body, like she couldn't quite make eye contact.

"Rachel, hi." Quinn greeted as upbeat as she could possibly manage.

She was desperately trying not to think about the fact that Rachel was going to be going on a date with the biggest jackass in the school – who had only yesterday scared her half to death.

"Hey…" Rachel replied, she met Quinn's eyes briefly and then looked down to her pale wrists. Quinn held her arms out carefully and Rachel hesitated for a moment or two before stepping into them and giving Quinn a tight hug.

Rachel was the first to step away as well and Quinn tried to not read too much into it.

Rachel's line of vision drifted to where Blaine was stood watching them and she blinked a couple of times, as if she hadn't even noticed that he was there before. Rachel's chocolate hues went into double time, inspecting almost every inch of Blaine timidly.

Quinn wondered if this is what the tiny brunette had done when she'd first spotted her through Miss Pillsbury's glass windows on her first day.

"Rachel, this is Blaine. We were best friends back in Westerville and he's in town for a while." Quinn introduced and Blaine held out his hand for Rachel to shake.

Rachel flinched very slightly at the action and Quinn watched their movements carefully – having observed that Rachel liked being in control of initiating physical contact.

Blaine was patient and eventually Rachel shook his hand and smiled warily.

"Hey, Rachel – I've heard a lot of good things about you from Quinn." Blaine told her and Rachel smiled and blushed faintly.

"Well, I'm sure they're all lies." Rachel chuckled.

"Oh I assure you they're not," Blaine replied "because she told me that you were devastatingly beautiful and… well here you are."

Rachel's blush deepened and her eyes flickered over to where Quinn's face was a bright shade of scarlet.

"You're really charming." Rachel mumbled with a shy grin as she turned back to Blaine who shrugged confidently. Rachel turned back to a still heavily blushing Quinn.

"I should go…" Rachel smiled at them both once more before continuing down the hallway.

"She's adorable," Blaine cooed, leaning his head against the locker to look Quinn in the eye "but… I mean… she was super nervous… I thought she thought I was going to smack her when I held out my hand."

"Bad things have happened to her, Blaine." Quinn replied, turning back to her locker and closing it.

"What things?" Blaine pushed and Quinn could only shrug in response.

"I don't know… No one knows." Quinn answered and Blaine exhaled slowly, looking over his shoulder in the direction that Rachel went.

"Poor girl." Blaine mumbled before looking back at Quinn.

They were suddenly interrupted by Kurt launching at Quinn and wrapping his arms around her.

"Whoa!" Quinn staggered backwards and barely managed to keep them both upright. Kurt let her go and held her shoulders.

"Sam told me that you were upset but didn't say what's wrong, what happened?" Kurt gushed and Quinn shrugged slightly, ducking her head.

There wasn't much else to say. Due to Blaine clearing his throat, Kurt turned and frowned at him.

"Who's the Lollipop Guild escapee?" Kurt asked, more to Blaine than Quinn. Blaine smirked and held out his hand.

"Blaine Anderson." Kurt paled and his jaw dropped.

"You're Blaine? Dreamboat accapella man?" Kurt squeaked and Blaine chuckled and nodded.

"That's me. You must be Kurt." Kurt squeaked again and shook Blaine's hand.

"I love your blazer – that's a Dalton Academy logo, right?" Kurt asked, eyeing the navy garment.

"It sure is. The ceiling collapsed so I'm here to visit my elusive best friend." Blaine gave Quinn a sideways glance and the blonde rolled her eyes.

"Are you okay?" Kurt asked, looking Blaine up and down and Blaine laughed in response.

"I wasn't inside when it collapsed."

"Oh… Well that's very good then." Kurt replied and Blaine grinned.

Quinn backed away and left the two boys to continue their conversation.

When she turned she bumped into Sam holding a bouquet of flowers in front of his face.

"Hey!" Quinn greeted and Sam lowered the flowers to show his head.

"Hi. I got these for Mercedes. They're not too much are they?" Sam asked, looking questioningly down at the flowers in question.

"They're lovely, Sam. I'm really happy that you're doing this." Quinn told him and Sam let out a shaky breath.

"I'm really nervous, Q. What if she doesn't like them… or me?" Sam queried and Quinn sighed, rubbing his arm reassuringly.

"She'll love them and I promise she won't turn you down, okay?" Quinn assured "you got your guitar?"

Sam turned to show the instrument strapped over his shoulder.

"Well then, there she is." Quinn nodded to where Mercedes was rummaging through her locker. Sam looked over as well and gulped.

"Good luck." Quinn pushed Sam in Mercedes' direction and the blonde boy stumbled slightly but began to walk steadily towards the girl of his dreams.

"Oh my God, is he…?" Kurt and Blaine suddenly joined Quinn and she nodded her affirmation.

Sam finally reached Mercedes and cleared his throat. Mercedes turned to look at him and her eyes widened.

"S-Sam? Hey." Mercedes attempted to sound nonchalant but failed completely.

Sam thrust the flowers right into her face.

"These are – um – these are for you. Here."

Mercedes took the flowers cautiously.

"They're beautiful, Sam, thanks…"

"That's not all." Sam spun his guitar round so it was situated correctly in his arms. Mercedes' eyes grew impossibly larger as Sam began strumming. He then continued to serenade her with'_Isn't She Lovely_?' being joined by Artie and Puck on their guitars midway through.

Mercedes looked like she was either going to laugh or cry or do some mixture of the two.

Once the song was finished, Sam exhaled heavily, waiting for her response. His handsome features were painted with hope.

Quinn, Kurt and Blaine weren't the only ones watching and holding their breath, most of the students in the hallway had stopped to watch.

"Isn't that song about a baby?" Mercedes asked and Sam's hopeful expression dropped.

Mercedes then chuckled.

"I really like that song," Mercedes continued "_even_ if it is about a baby."

Sam grinned with his large lips.

"Mercedes Jones," Sam knelt down "will you go on a date with me and more importantly, will you be my girlfriend?"

Mercedes nodded with a big smile.

"Now get up, you goof." Mercedes helped Sam to his feet and pulled him in for a hug, only for his guitar to hit her in the face.

"Oh Lord, are you okay?" Sam asked quickly, swinging the instrument over his back again.

"Fine," Mercedes giggled "now gimme a hug." Sam laughed and hugged her tightly.

Quinn watched the scene fondly.

The bell rang and the crowd parted and began to leave for their lessons.

Quinn felt a hand on her arm and was pulled into a janitor's closet quickly.

"Wha-" The light came on and she found herself face to face with Puck.

"I'm not making out with you." Quinn huffed and turned to leave but Puck grabbed her arm to stop her again.

"No, no that's not what I pulled you here for. Rachel told you about Finn, right?"

Quinn gulped and nodded slowly.

"What are we gonna do about it?" Puck asked her determinedly and Quinn pulled him into a fierce hug.

"Thank God. I really hoped you'd be as against it as I am." Puck chuckled as Quinn pulled away.

"I want to _destroy _him." Quinn replied and Puck laughed.

"What are we going to do?" Puck questioned.

Quinn opened her mouth to reply when there was a knock on the door. They looked at each other questioningly before Quinn slowly reached out and opened the door.

Blaine slid inside.

"Hey guys. Sorry, I saw you come in here and… well, I don't know my way around." Blaine squeezed in.

"Who are you?" Puck asked, shoulder to shoulder with Blaine.

"Sorry. Blaine Anderson, pleasure to meet you." Blaine shook Puck's hand awkwardly due to their positioning.

"Call me Puck." The jock replied and Blaine nodded.

"So, what are we talking about?"

Before either one could answer there was another knock at the door.

"We expecting anyone else?" Quinn asked and Puck shook his head.

"I didn't know we were expecting anyone to begin with." Puck replied.

Quinn opened the door and Sam shuffled inside.

"Hey!" Sam pushed his way in and stood shoulder to shoulder with Quinn "why are we all in the cupboard?"

"I don't know, Sam," Blaine replied "that was what I was about to ask. I only just came in as well."

"I know, I saw you come in so I decided to follow." Sam told him and Blaine nodded slowly.

"So, why are we in the cupboard, Quinn?" Blaine asked and Quinn groaned, shoving a broom out of the way from where it had been poking into her back.

"Ask Puck."

"Why are we in the cupboard, Puck?" Blaine questioned and before Puck could answer there was a light rapping on the door.

"For God's sake." Puck groaned.

Quinn opened the door and Kurt slunk inside.

"Well isn't this quite the meeting place. Why are we all in here?" Kurt asked and Quinn felt like face palming, but couldn't due to being squeezed between Kurt and Sam.

"I was just about to say," Puck hesitated in case there was another knock at the door, but luckily there wasn't "Rachel's going on a date with Finn."

"Rachel's going on a date with Finn?" Kurt screeched.

"I did just say that, right?" Puck replied sarcastically.

"I already knew that bit." Sam spoke up.

"You knew?" Kurt huffed "so you three knew this already?"

"Actually, I knew too." Blaine added but Kurt didn't huff this time, just looked mildly annoyed at Quinn.

"And we need to stop it, somehow." Puck continued. Kurt nodded slowly.

"What if we tell Santana? She'll stop it _and _destroy Finn for sure!" Kurt exclaimed but Quinn shook her head.

"I'd break Rachel's trust that way; I promised her that I wouldn't tell."

"Good job on that." Sam commented, motioning towards himself, Blaine and Kurt. Quinn glared at him.

"Guys, concentrate," Puck huffed "we need to find a way to make sure that Rachel and Finnwit don't go out."

"Yeah, don't forget he scared her half to death when he picked her up the other day!" Kurt interjected.

Puck nodded.

"Maybe if we knew the reason why…" Kurt prompted and Puck quickly glared at him.

"No way."

"Just tell us, Puck, we won't tell anyone else, we promise!" Kurt insisted. Quinn just watched them warily as Puck's glare hardened.

"Don't make me punch you, Hummel. That information stays in the family, okay?" Puck gritted out through clenched teeth.

Kurt paled and nodded quickly in understanding.

"Hey, okay, let's all just calm down a bit." Blaine said warily, squeezing out of his space moving so he was stood between Kurt and Puck.

Quinn could practically see Kurt swoon.

"Fine," Puck sighed and relaxed his muscles.

"So, any ideas?" Quinn asked and everyone remained silent, awkwardly looking at one another and hoping that one of them would come up with an idea "seriously? Come on – we're all generally smart people, surely we can – SAM!"

Sam looked up from his phone quickly with a guilty smile.

"Stop texting, this is serious!"

"It's Mercedes." He answered shyly.

Kurt 'aww-ed' and looked over his shoulder to read it.

"Stop that!" Quinn hissed, slapping Kurt's shoulder.

"Oh! She's calling you!" Kurt exclaimed suddenly as Sam's phone rung.

"Don't answer it!" Quinn growled but it was too late.

"Hey," Sam greeted his new girlfriend, there was a pause whilst Mercedes was replying before Sam turned to the other members of the room "Mercedes suggests kidnapping one of them… Rachel, probably cos she's smaller."

"YOU TOLD MERCEDES?" Quinn shrieked and Sam hesitated before nodding "oh my God."

Quinn face palmed.

"For her part she says that kidnapping is a viable option, she'll supply the rope and car boot." Sam added and Quinn glared at him.

"We are not _kidnapping _Rachel!" Quinn snapped. Sam quickly mumbled something to Mercedes about cancelling the getaway car.

"I think kidnapping could work." Blaine spoke up and Sam thrust his arm out in the Warbler's direction triumphantly.

Quinn glared at Blaine quickly and he backed up slightly.

"I've got an idea!" Puck announced after a moment.

"If you say one thing about kidnapping I'm going to castrate you." Quinn muttered and Puck looked genuinely worried for a moment.

"N-No… I was just thinking – Finn's an asshole, right?"

Everybody murmured their affirmations, including Mercedes who was now on speakerphone.

"Well, what if we just let Rachel figure that out on her own?" Puck suggested and the four other members of the room stared at him incredulously.

"I don't get it." Mercedes said after a beat.

Puck rolled his eyes.

"Well, I'm saying that we let them go on their date –"

"No." Quinn snapped immediately.

"Hear me out, Fabray," Puck said quickly "but we all hang out around Breadstix also – like in commando!"

"You mean incognito." Kurt corrected and Puck nodded enthusiastically.

"YEAH! Like, Finn's bound to show off how much of a jackass he is. All we gotta do is stick around, keep an eye on them and when Rachel finally realises how much of an ass he is, we're there to swoop her up and save her. No getting Santana involved or angry." Puck explained.

There was a pause whilst they all thought it over. The boys all looked to Quinn.

"I think it could work." Quinn told them after a minute and they all grinned.

"We need a plan of action though," Blaine added.

"Can we be in costume?" Kurt asked desperately, clasping his hands together.

"Plan of action, yes. Costume, no." Puck replied and Kurt deflated, so Blaine rubbed his back soothingly.

"Okay, well – Santana's gonna be suspicious, so we need her to be distracted." Mercedes said via the phone.

"I'm on it." Puck said quickly, whipping out his phone and firing off a text.

He received a reply in seconds.

"Brittany's gonna distract her tonight, if you get me." Puck smirked and Quinn frowned, feeling like she was missing out on an inside joke – Blaine looked similarly confused, but Puck didn't offer an explanation.

"Right, Santana's sorted. What else?" Puck asked.

"We need to position ourselves in Breadstix to keep an eye on them." Sam said.

"Okay… Well, Sam – you and Mercedes can have dinner tonight, so Rachel won't question you two being there. Only if you're cool with it, though." Quinn suggested.

"You okay with that, Mercedes?" Sam asked nervously.

"Hell yes." Was the response and Sam did a little happy dance.

"Kurt and I can have dinner too, if you'll join me?" Blaine turned to Kurt who nodded enthusiastically.

"You and me, Blondie?" Puck asked with a wink and Quinn shook her head quickly "aww, why not?"

"I have better plans for us both. Puck, you'll be in the kitchens…"

* * *

As the five left the closet, they encountered Santana at the end of the corridor, watching them all in confusion.

"I don't even want to know what kinda freaky shit you were all doing in there." Santana grumbled as she approached them.

She sneered at Quinn before her eyes landed on Blaine and she frowned at him.

"Who's Frodo?" Santana questioned, looking Blaine up and down.

"Blaine Anderson, nice to meet you." Blaine held out his hand.

"I didn't really want to know." Santana replied, narrowing her eyes at him.

"He's my friend." Quinn interjected and Santana rolled her eyes.

"I should've known." Santana huffed before strolling off in the opposite direction.

"She seems charming." Blaine mumbled, slightly hurt as he retracted his hand from where it had been left hanging.

Kurt squeezed his shoulder.

"It's not personal, I promise."

"Who is that anyway?" Blaine asked.

"That's Satan herself, Santana – Rachel's half-sister." Sam informed and Blaine choked on air.

"_She's _related to Rachel? You're joking, right?"

"Hey, she may be a bitch- but she's still my cousin…" Puck warned "I better go, but I'll catch y'all tonight."

* * *

Soon enough it was lunchtime and all of the Glee Club and Blaine were in the choir room.

Quinn looked around the room and at those who occupied it.

Santana was sat between Rachel and Brittany at the piano, the former curled into her side and the latter chatting to them both excitedly. Puck was mingling with the band guys whilst Mike and Tina made out at the top of the risers. Sam and Mercedes were talking quietly together as were Blaine and Kurt, leaving Quinn sat next to Artie.

"Just us singletons now, huh?" Artie chuckled and Quinn tore her eyes away from Rachel to look at him.

"Yup, just us." Quinn smiled softly and him and sat back in her plastic chair.

"Now I guess they don't have to worry about who to ask to the Winter Ball." Artie scoffed and Quinn raised an eyebrow.

"Lima has one of those?" she asked incredulously and Artie nodded.

"Yeah, tickets sell out in days. It's crazy."

"It wasn't mentioned in Miss Pillsbury's pamphlet." Quinn told him and Artie let out a laugh.

"It'd need a whole pamphlet of its own. Tickets go on sale beginning of November, they get prepped early. You have to take a date, it's kinda sad if you go on your own. Oh – and there's a different theme each year." Artie explained and Quinn nodded slowly.

"Last year it was Winter Wonderland, year before it was Royals and Regents – I've heard through the grapevine that this year will be Masquerade…." Artie looked down to his lap "though I think I'll be pretty recognisable, with this old thing."

Quinn felt a pang of sympathy for the boy. Artie recovered quickly and smiled at her.

"So – any ideas on who you want to ask?" Quinn prompted and Artie blushed and shrugged.

"Nah… Not really. I've only been with my mom before," Artie told her embarrassedly "how about you?"

Quinn's eyes flickered to Rachel for a second before looking back at Artie.

"No clue." Artie smiled and promptly changed the topic to science fiction, Quinn heard what he was saying but her mind was on what was going to happen that night.

* * *

Sam and Mercedes were sat five tables away from Kurt and Blaine, awaiting the arrival of Finn and Rachel.

The kitchen doors swung open as a waiter exited and Sam caught a glance of Puck inside, flirting with a waitress as per the plan.

Mercedes suddenly coughed twice in quick succession and Sam looked over his shoulder briefly to where Finn and Rachel were being greeted at the door.

Sam looked back to Mercedes and nodded. Over her shoulder, five tables and Blaine's shoulder, Kurt saw this and proceeded to cough twice. Blaine nodded in understanding and turned his head just enough to glance over his shoulder.

Finn and Rachel were shown to a table which was far away but within listening distance.

Sam fired off a quick text to Quinn and then settled down in his booth.

Finn sat down immediately and snatched the menu from the waiter. The waiter looked slightly embarrassed for Rachel at Finn's lack of courtesy, so pulled out Rachel's chair and tucked her in once she was seated before handing her the menu.

Kurt face palmed and Blaine rolled his eyes. Mercedes wasn't surprised in the slightest and Sam chuckled with a shake of his head.

"You look hot." Finn commented, barely looking up from his menu and Rachel smiled forcefully.

"Thank you, Finn – you're looking handsome yourself." she replied kindly.

"I know – this is my best tie." Finn grinned and looked back to the menu.

They sat mainly in silence until the waiter returned.

"Are you ready to order?" The waiter questioned and Finn nodded quickly.

"Yeah we are," Finn replied, not even checking with Rachel first "about ten minutes ago, but anyway - I'll have the steak, and gimme a little extra of everything."

The waiter looked like he was trying to not slap Finn upside the head so turned to Rachel.

"And you, Madame?"

"I'll just have the salad thanks – minus the goats cheese, I'm vegan." she replied and the waiter raised an eyebrow, internally asking why a vegan was in Breadstix but just took their menus and left.

Sam looked to Mercedes who was listening intently.

"Is it too soon to get up and slap him?" she asked and Sam laughed.

"Trust me, as much as I'd _love _to see that – Q would kill us if we didn't stick to the plan." Sam replied and Mercedes nodded.

Finn chugged his drink and let out a small burp, causing Rachel to grimace.

"Salad is mega boring – why didn't you get something fun?" Finn asked.

"Because I'm a vegan, Finn and everything else on the menu features meat or some kind of animal by-product." Rachel replied.

Finn looked utterly confused for a moment before he shrugged it off.

"Kay." He replied before resting his head on his fist and sighing.

Rachel looked like she very much wanted to do the same. Sam sent out another text, to Puck this time.

"Can I just ask, am I gonna get to any bases tonight?" Finn questioned and Rachel looked appalled.

"I-I'm sorry?" Rachel spluttered, not quiet believing his forwardness.

"Well, I just wanna know if I should have pudding or not." Finn shrugged and Rachel's jaw was hanging off its hinges, as were four others.

"N-no… I… I don't think you will…" Rachel stuttered and Finn sighed exaggeratedly.

"_Fine_."

"He did not just…" Blaine hissed to Kurt and his counterpart was looking equally horrified.

"Let's just hope that Puck is very generous with that topping of his." Kurt replied and Blaine nodded eagerly.

A little while later, Rachel and Finn's respective meals were brought out.

"Took your time." Finn grumbled to the waiter.

"Thank you." Rachel said kindly and the waiter smiled before storming back into the kitchens.

Rachel slowly picked at her salad as Finn dove into his meal.

The quarterback chewed quickly, before slowing down in the space of a second, his face contorting slightly.

"Finn, are you okay?" Rachel asked as Finn turned slowly red and started exhaling heavily.

"I-It's hot… v-very spicy…" Finn reached for his glass, only to find it empty.

"I'll get you another!" Rachel offered urgently, raising her hand to beckon a waiter but Finn shook his head furiously.

"No time!" Finn scrambled out of the booth, knocking his plate to the ground and sprinted to the bathroom.

Sam looked to the kitchen where Puck was watching and laughing hysterically.

Rachel seemed to just sit there for a minute or two before pulling out her phone.

"_Rachel?_"

"Hey, Quinn…" Rachel sighed, rubbing her eyes.

"_Aren't you supposed to be on your date?_" Quinn questioned and Rachel breathed out slowly.

"It's not exactly going to plan… I… I think I want to leave."

"_Do it._"

"Finn's my ride." Rachel mumbled in response.

"_Go outside._" Quinn instructed and Rachel frowned.

"I can't… the meal…"

"_Go outside, Rachel_."

"I… Okay, fine."

Rachel dropped cash onto the table to cover the meal, fearing Finn wouldn't pay it and headed towards the exit. Sam, Mercedes, Blaine and Kurt watched her go with matching grins.

"_Outside yet?_"

"I'm going!" Rachel exclaimed, thanking the waiter silently as he opened the door for her and she walked outside into the cold air "okay, _now_ I'm outside."

"_Was the date really that bad?_" Quinn asked and Rachel scoffed.

"Terrible… I feel… really bad. I hated it," Rachel sighed "my night's ruined."

"_I wouldn't say that,_" Quinn replied and Rachel frowned "_turn around_."

Rachel turned on the spot and saw Quinn leaning against her car.

"Quinn… what?" Rachel hung up the phone and ran over to greet the blonde with a hug.

"I thought you might need a getaway car." Quinn chuckled and Rachel squeezed her tighter.

"I… I can't believe you're here." Rachel mumbled into Quinn's shoulder.

"We're friends; I couldn't leave you to suffer with Finn the Douche on your own." Quinn said and Rachel giggled in response.

"Thank you, Quinn." Rachel breathed as she pulled away.

"Now, your chariot awaits." Quinn opened the passenger side door for Rachel.

"Where are we going?" Rachel asked and Quinn shook her head.

"Just get in the car."

"You're kidnapping me, aren't you?" Rachel joked as she got in and Quinn closed the door, with a roll of her eyes before getting in the driver side.

"Definitely not."

* * *

They arrived at Quinn's house and Rachel looked at the blonde incredulously.

"What are we doing?" Rachel asked and Quinn shook her head again.

"C'mon." Quinn got out of the car and Rachel followed eagerly. Quinn let her into the house quietly and led her upstairs to her room.

Quinn held the door open and Rachel entered first and gasped immediately. The room was decorated in blue fairy lights, filling the room with a blue glow.

"I have a bed, vegan ice cream and crappy movies," Quinn told her "it's only eight o'clock and your curfew isn't until midnight. I'll drive you from here at quarter to – So… you in?"

Rachel turned around and pulled Quinn into another bone crushing hug.

"You're like the best friend ever, ever, ever!" Rachel exclaimed and Quinn laughed as Rachel pulled away and leapt onto the bed.

"YOU HAVE _FUNNY GIRL_?" Rachel almost screamed and Quinn shrugged.

"I bought it especially. I thought I ought to try it." Rachel gaped at her before scrambling to put in into the DVD player.

"Your life is about to change for the better, Quinn Fabray." Rachel told her as she put it in.

Quinn sat down on the bed.

"I think it already has."

Rachel settled back on the bed next to Quinn and cuddled into her side.

"You're like the best bad-date-antidote ever." Rachel said and Quinn grinned.

The movie began playing and Rachel sighed contently.

"Thank you so much for doing this, Quinn, you have no idea how much it means to me." Rachel said shyly and Quinn smiled, thankful for the lighting as it masked her blush.

"And you have no idea how much you mean to me." Quinn replied and before she could breathe, Rachel had kissed her on the cheek.

"Thank you, Quinn."

Rachel settled back into her side and they continued to watch the film, though Quinn lost focus – watching Rachel mouth the lines with her kissable lips and staring intently at the screen with her beautiful eyes.

Quinn sighed and rested her head on top of Rachel's.

She was falling, and falling hard.

**A/N: Sorry it's taken so long… I swear every time I write an A/N I'm saying sorry for taking too long… That's not good. Anyway, there will be more Santana/Rachel stuff in the next chapter. Thanks for reading as always and leave a review if you happen to have a spare moment. Thanks. **


	11. Chapter 11: The Ball Date Dilemma

Chapter Eleven

Quinn awoke to an annoying ringing. It sounded like a warning alarm was trying to smash through her forehead. She could tell by the sound that it wasn't her phone or her alarm clock, so presumed it was the apocalypse and decided to sleep it out.

Quinn cuddled closer into her warmer-than-usual pillow and sighed contently.

"Ugh, what's that noise?"

Quinn frowned; did she say that out loud? She didn't remember moving her lips… And her voice didn't sound like that either.

Her only conclusion was that the apocalypse came with the voice of a groggy teenager.

"What is it?"

Quinn huffed. The voice of the apocalypse spoke way too much for…

She wasn't sure what time it was. But it must be night time still; it felt like it was still dark in the room.

Quinn cracked her eyes open to peer at the clock only to find herself face to face with an equally tired Rachel Berry. She stifled a surprised shriek and merely squeaked slightly instead.

Quinn then saw the blue lights and the ice cream on the side next to the _Funny Girl _DVD case and it all came flooding back to her. She then decided to answer Rachel's question.

"Dunno," she mumbled, knowing she must look absolutely disgusting right now "but it's been going off for ages."

Rachel shifted to look at the nightstand and she was suddenly very awake.

"It's my phone!" The tiny brunette grabbed the object "Noah's calling?"

Rachel hit the green button and a voice spoke before she could lift it to her ear.

"_THANK FUCK_!" yelled Puck and Quinn groaned, rubbing her ears. She didn't do well in the mornings.

"What's wrong, Noah?" Rachel replied quietly.

"_What's wrong? What do you think?" _

"Oh I don't know."

"_Where the hell are you?_" Puck snapped and Rachel rubbed the bridge of her nose.

"I'm at Quinn's, we dropped off momentarily. No biggie."

"_Dropped off momentarily?_" Puck repeated angrily "_it's frickin eight in the morning!" _

This made both girls sit bolt upright.

"Don't mess with me, Noah." Rachel warned seriously as Quinn scrambled to find her alarm clock.

"_I'm not messing with you! And Santana's on her way over to mine to fucking pick you up from here in ten minutes! I managed to convince her that you crashed out here at mine but she is fucking pissed the hell off, Rachel!_" Puck explained and Rachel paled.

"I'm on my way, thank you, Noah!" Rachel rambled quickly, leaping up from the bed.

Quinn got up also and threw the curtains open. Bright daylight hit her eyes and she swore under her breath.

That's when she heard her bedroom door slam.

Quinn took in the empty space and quickly ran after Rachel.

"Rachel! Wait!" Quinn called as she ran down the stairs past a very tired and confused Blaine to the brunette who was by the front door.

"I've gotta go, Quinn, I'm sorry." Rachel said hurriedly.

"I know! I'm gonna drive you," Quinn told her as she slipped on her shoes "you can't walk to Puck's in ten minutes."

"I wasn't going to walk. I was going to run." Rachel mumbled and Quinn opened the front door.

"C'mon, if I speed I can get you there in five." Quinn dragged Rachel towards her car.

"I'm not letting you break the law for me, Quinn Fabray." Rachel gasped and Quinn rolled her eyes.

"And I'm not letting Santana break Puck's face for _me_, Rachel. So get in the damn car!" Quinn retorted and Rachel quickly nodded, leaping into the vehicle.

They barely had the doors shut before Quinn pulled out of the driveway.

"You're gonna need to tell me where I'm going, Rach." Quinn instructed as she backed into the road and began speeding down it.

With Rachel's instructions they reached Puck's house in six minutes, and luckily there was no sign of Santana yet. Puck was pacing up and down the driveway until he saw their car and threw his hands in the hair with relief.

Rachel yanked open the door handle and leapt out of the car. She was about to close the door when she leant back in.

"Thanks for last night, Quinn. It meant a lot to me." Rachel quickly kissed the stunned blonde on the cheek before getting out and closing the car door.

Quinn blushed even though Rachel couldn't see her anymore and pulled away from the curb.

She made it most of the way down the street before another car came tearing up the road, down the middle of the street.

Quinn slammed on the brakes and the other car did too.

They luckily stopped metres in front of each other. Quinn looked up and into the very confused and angry eyes of Santana.

Quinn quickly swerved around Santana's car and took off down the road.

* * *

She didn't hear from Rachel again until Monday, when she saw her in the school hallway. The tiny brunette was delicately putting her books into her locker.

Quinn was about to go over when she saw Finn approaching. She slyly moved closer but kept a safe distance away.

Finn reached out to touch Rachel's shoulder but stopped and retracted his hand at the last moment. _Good choice. _

Finn cleared his throat instead. Rachel visibly jumped but turned to look at Finn anyway.

She seemed disappointed to see it was the tall boy but quickly changed expression to be neutral.

"Hi, Finn." Rachel greeted cordially.

Finn shifted from foot to foot for a moment, shoving his hands deep into his pockets.

"I, um, I just wanted to say sorry – about the other day. Our date." Finn told her slowly and Rachel shrugged.

"Apology accepted… Thank you, Finn." Rachel began to turn around when Finn spoke up again quickly.

"No – wait… I mean… God, this is all going wrong," Finn squeezed his eyes shut for a moment before reopening them and continuing "I didn't meant to be such an ass. And don't do that thing where you try to be nice and say that I wasn't, because I was. I know I was. Actually, Santana likes to continually remind me of that… I just… I just wanted to say sorry because I spent _so damn long _getting you to finally agree to go out with me just to screw it all up. And in less than forty minutes as well."

Finn exhaled heavily and Rachel appeared to sympathise with the tall boy. Quinn watched on, feeling a little bit guilty herself. A _little _bit.

"So, I just wanted to let you know that I really am very sorry for what happened and I don't blame you for walking out on me," Finn looked like he was done and about to leave but seemed to decide against it and spoke once more "and I was too shy to say it at the time, but you looked really beautiful. You… You always do."

Finn swallowed heavily and Rachel ducked her head.

"I'll see you around." Finn gave her a small smile before walking away quickly.

Rachel watched him go sadly, so Quinn speedily walked over and sidled up beside the tiny brunette.

"Hey." Quinn greeted quietly.

Rachel snapped her eyes to meet Quinn's and she rapidly put on a smile.

"Hi, Quinn. How are you?" Rachel replied closing her locker.

"Not too bad, you?"

Rachel shrugged slightly in response.

"I feel a bit bad… about Finn…" Rachel sighed and leant against her locker.

"You shouldn't," Quinn told her and Rachel looked at her incredulously "well, it's not exactly _your_ fault that the date went to shit, is it?"

Rachel nodded slowly.

"I guess." Quinn was about to speak further but the bell rang.

"I'll see you around." Rachel gave the blonde a quick hug before walking quickly to her lesson.

Quinn turned to walk in the opposite direction and came face to face with Santana.

"Look, Peach – you're really starting to get on my fucking nerves. I've told you before to leave my sister alone." Santana said lowly.

Quinn took in a deep breath.

"Look, I think we got off on the wrong foot-"

"Well you've got two wrong feet and fucking ugly shoes." Santana interrupted, her eyes burning into Quinn's.

"Okay, Satan – listen up –" Quinn could feel herself slipping so easily back into her HBIC self. It was just something about Santana that brought it out of her.

"Yes, I'm an agent of Satan but my duties are largely ceremonial." Santana shrugged, a wicked smirk tugging at the corner of her lips.

"Here's a dollar, go call someone who cares." Quinn tucked the dollar under the corner of Santana's cheerleading top, causing the Latina to emit a low growl.

"It's evident to me now, Fabray that you've got two brain cells; one is in a wheelchair and the other is pushing." Santana stepped closer and Quinn copied the movement.

"Are you always this stupid, or is it a special occasion?" Quinn said snidely.

She hated the words that were coming out of her mouth right now but she couldn't stop them.

Santana needed to be put in her place. Quinn had seen her treating everybody like they were no more than the dirt on the underside of her shoe – expect Rachel and Brittany of course.

"You're so cruel – you're depriving a poor village somewhere of an idiot." Santana and Quinn were inching closer to each other, both with deep glares set in place.

"I'd like to see things from your point of view but I'm afraid I can't get my head that far up your _ass,_" Quinn spat and before anything more could be said, Santana had shoved her backwards.

But that only seemed to fuel her further. Quinn stepped forwards again, back into Santana's personal space – her voice rising in level.

"If we killed everybody who hates you, it wouldn't be murder - it would be an apocalypse!" Quinn shouted and Santana snarled, shoving her again.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Santana yelled.

Quinn smirked and leant in closer.

"Make me."

Santana slapped her so hard it seemed to reverberate around the empty hallway.

The air was thick with an electric tension as shock and pain tore through Quinn and as Santana stood frozen, almost waiting for a reaction.

Quinn held her hand to her cheek and upon pulling her hand away; she found blood on her fingertips. Santana's long nails must've cut her.

"Ouch, dammit." Quinn muttered, holding her hand back to her cheek. She turned her head to look Santana in the eye, but the Latina was almost staring through her.

"I-I'm sorry," Santana stuttered out, stumbling backwards "I-I didn't – didn't want to… Y-you made me… I can't… I'm not…"

"What's wrong with you? You've hit people before – what's so different now?" Quinn questioned, watching Santana shaking her head before running out of the hallway.

Quinn sighed and made her way to her locker to grab a tissue in order to stop the bleeding – but on her way she was stopped by Sam.

"Q – What happened to your face?" Sam removed Quinn's hand and inspected the small cut below her eye.

"It's nothing – don't worry." Quinn shrugged him off but Sam grabbed her again.

"Who hit you?" Sam asked sternly and Quinn exhaled heavily before replying.

"Santana…"

"THAT CRAZY BITCH!" Sam began to run in the direction Quinn came but she stopped him.

"Sam, don't!" Quinn urged "it was a misunderstanding. My fault. I pushed her too far and she slapped me. I deserved it. Honestly." Sam frowned at her.

"No one deserves that. You've gotta tell Schue – or Rachel at least." Sam stated and Quinn shook her head.

"I can't. But its fine, Sam. I was asking for it – she was being a bitch but so was I." Quinn insisted and Sam deflated slightly.

"We can't let her get away with treating you this way… Treating anyone this way." Sam acknowledged, letting out a deep sigh.

"She's Rachel's half-sister. I'm not going there if it means hurting Rachel." Quinn shrugged and Sam smirked at her.

"You got it bad, Fabray." Sam nudged her and Quinn rolled her eyes as they began to continue the walk to her locker.

"So, Artie was right…" Sam began, causing Quinn to raise an eyebrow "about the ball this year. It's masquerade. Damn boy is a genius. I owe him twenty dollars."

Quinn chuckled.

"I don't know if I'm gonna go." She shrugged and Sam gaped at her.

"But you must!" Sam exclaimed dramatically, grabbing her hand and pulling her into a dancing pose "you must attend the ball, Milady. It is of the upmost importance in our plan to woo the divine, the beautiful, the one and only - Rachel Berry."

Sam spun her around and Quinn laughed heartily – half glad that they were alone in the hall.

"You'll come?" Sam asked, pouting slightly.

"I'll think about-"

"You come." Sam interrupted, looking at her mock-sternly.

"I'll-"

"You come!" Sam cut her off again and Quinn chuckled.

"Fine. I'll go. You're taking Mercedes of course?" Quinn queried and Sam snorted.

"Of course- we've already bought matching outfits." Sam declared dreamily.

"You got it bad, Evans." Quinn mocked and Sam shoved her lightly.

"Now, you've gotta ask Rachel!" Sam instructed and Quinn felt nervous butterflies battering at her stomach.

"I don't think I could without vomiting." Sam smiled sadly at her.

"You can do it, Q," he pulled her in to dance again "I believe in you."

Quinn laughed heartily, not even questioning why Sam hadn't been in his first lesson whilst she was having a bitch-off with Santana – it wasn't important.

* * *

Quinn caught Rachel outside her next lesson, dragging her aside before Santana could turn up and take the tiny brunette under her wing.

"Um… hi, Quinn… can I help you?" Rachel asked, raising an eyebrow as Quinn pulled her aside.

"I wanted to know if you'd like to hang out later… with me, of course?" Quinn asked nervously. Rachel giggled and nodded.

"Sure. I'll get Puck to be my cover story again – where do you want to meet?" Rachel replied, eyeing the corridor for any signs of her dangerous half-sister.

"I spoke to Puck and he said he'd drive you to my house straight after school – y'know, so Santana is less suspicious."

Rachel tore her eyes away from the hallway and looked to Quinn.

Then Rachel narrowed her eyes and pushed Quinn's hair behind her ears and a small gasp left her lips.

"What happened to your cheek?"

Quinn nearly forgot to answer because Rachel was cupping her cheek but she managed to gather together scraps of words and throw them out.

"I-I walked into a door." Quinn shrugged her shoulders self-deprecatingly and Rachel's grasp tightened ever so slightly.

"That's what Santana tells me when she comes home with cuts and bruises which I know she gets from beating people up. How did this really happen, Quinn?" Rachel asked softly and Quinn shook her head.

"It's not important, Rachel… I have to go, but I'll see you later."

Quinn reluctantly pulled out of Rachel's hold and walked away, resisting the urge to look back over her shoulder.

* * *

The rest of the day was uneventful, just filled with Quinn's excitement for getting to see Rachel alone again.

Quinn arrived home to a Judy-free home and five minutes later, Puck dropped Rachel off and the smaller girl joined her.

"Now I'm here, what are you going to do with me, Fabray?" Rachel asked teasingly, brushing past Quinn and entering the house.

Quinn swallowed heavily and followed the tiny brunette.

"I – um – I hadn't thought that far ahead." Quinn admitted.

"We could always look through more of your baby pictures." Rachel turned and shrugged, a playful smile on her lips.

"Never again." Quinn shook her head with a chuckle.

Rachel walked over and pinched the blonde's cheeks.

"Aw, you're a cutie – you just don't like to admit it." Quinn batted Rachel's hands away. There was a pause before Rachel suddenly exclaimed;

"I KNOW WHAT I WANT TO DO!"

Quinn had to laugh at her excitability.

"Go on, tell me." Quinn encouraged.

"LET'S PLAY CLUEDO." Quinn raised an eyebrow.

"Cluedo?" Quinn queried incredulously.

"Yeah! Mom hates it so never lets us play – please, Quinn!" Rachel begged and Quinn sighed before nodding.

"Let me get it out."

* * *

Soon Quinn found herself playing a rather short game of Cluedo with Rachel. Cluedo with only two people never lasted too long but Rachel seemed to be enjoying herself and that automatically made Quinn happy.

So, she finally gathered to courage to – sort of – ask Rachel about the ball.

"The Winter Ball? Yeah, it's on every year. What about it?" Rachel asked distractedly as she ticked off another weapon on her sheet.

"I-I was wondering if you were planning on going." Quinn prompted and there was a pause as Rachel rolled the dice before the tiny brunette replied.

"I wanted to – but we're going away for that weekend, my grandpa's alone for the first time this Christmas and we kinda felt duty bound to go see him. You?"

Quinn felt her stomach drop in disappointment.

"I-I don't know… I wouldn't know who to take." Quinn shrugged and Rachel pouted.

"But you must go, Quinn. It'll be spectacular fun! Masquerade and all. You must find yourself a man, a nice dress and then send me photos!" Rachel declared and Quinn smiled weakly.

It was at that awkward moment that Blaine decided to burst through the door like a knight in shining armour.

"Hello Ladies," greeted the Warbler, leaping over the couch and peeping over Quinn's shoulder at her cards "how are we on this fine day?"

"Good – but obviously not as good as some, what's got you so giddy?" Rachel asked and Blaine blushed slightly.

"Kurt asked me to accompany him to the Winter Ball."

Rachel squealed, tossing her cards aside and wrapping her arms around Blaine – surprising him and also showing Quinn all her cards, though the blonde wasn't really concentrating on the game anymore.

"I'm so sorry I won't be able to see you two together, I can't make it – but I hope you have a lovely time!" Rachel told him earnestly, pulling back slightly.

"You're not going?" Blaine whined, looking sadly at Quinn who shrugged.

"Family stuff – but make sure that our dear Quinn here finds herself a good date, okay?" Rachel told him sternly and Blaine nodded, a serious pout on his lips.

"Of course, ma'am."

* * *

The next day, Quinn was sullenly offloading books into her locker – still upset that Rachel couldn't attend the Ball and at a loss at who she could take instead.

She felt a tug at her dress and looked to see Artie next to her.

"Sorry, I was calling you but you looked kinda out of it." Artie said, removing his hand.

"That's fine, I'm sorry." Quinn replied.

"I, um, I was wondering if we could talk in private."

Quinn nodded and followed Artie to the choir room.

"Quinn Fabray... I know that I'm not exactly your first choice… or one of your choices, but you are mine... and so - so I wanted to ask if you'd kindly accompany me to the Winter Ball?" Artie was wringing his hands together and Quinn grinned, kneeling down in front of him and placing her hands over his.

"It'd be an honour." Quinn stated and Artie smiled.

"Phew, I was really worried that I'd have to go with my mom again." Artie chuckled and Quinn pulled him into a hug.

"Thank you, Artie – you don't know what this means to me."

"QUINN FABRAY!"

Quinn and Artie parted to locate the person to whom the screech belonged to and they were met with the image of Rachel dragging a very unwilling Santana into the room.

"You lied to me!" Rachel snapped "in fact, both of you did so I'm doubly disappointed – but that's not the point. I _finally _managed to worm it out of San that it was she who created that cut on your cheek."

"Rachel…" Quinn sighed, her eyes flickering between Rachel and Santana.

"Don't try to make excuses, Quinn. Santana is here to apologise." Rachel pushed her half-sister forwards.

"Really, it's okay – it was my fault. I wound her up on purpose, I'm sor-"

"Don't you dare attempt to apologise, Quinn Fabray! Santana told me exactly what happened and whilst I'm upset with you _both _for fighting, there's no excuse for physical violence!" Rachel snapped.

Quinn nodded slowly, pressing her lips together tightly to show that she wasn't going to speak.

"Look, Peach – we were both sassing each other yesterday, but I shouldn't have smacked you one and I'm sorry, okay?" Santana said, attempting to make it sound half-hearted but failing.

"It's fine, really." Quinn insisted and Santana nodded before walking out of the room quickly.

Rachel seemed to have calmed down drastically and put on a smile, facing Quinn and Artie.

"I'm so sorry I interrupted, what were you two talking about?" Rachel asked.

"It appears I've found myself a white knight to accompany me to the ball." Quinn said, smiling down at Artie who was grinning.

Rachel looked only ever so slightly disappointed for a fraction of a second but a bold smile took over a moment later.

"Aw, that's so sweet! You _must _send me photos, okay?" Rachel demanded and Artie nodded quickly.

"Oh my mom will be on that like a shot."

"Can't wait." Rachel smiled softly again and exited the room.

Quinn tried not to notice the slight drop in Rachel's shoulders and tried to not over-analyse it for the next two hours, but failed on both accounts.

But things were looking up, Rachel was prepared to hang out behind Santana's back, Sam and Mercedes were together, Kurt and Blaine were together and Quinn had found herself a date to the Winter Ball.

There was only one thing that would be the cherry on her triple tiered cake of happiness, but it felt so far out of reach, Quinn decided she'd have to just settle for a cherry-less cake this winter.

* * *

**A/N: Please don't kill me. Please. It's Christmas in one day, at least wait until after then. I'm so, so sorry this is incredibly late. Life just got in the way majorly. But I made a promise to beaner008 to have an upload by Christmas and so here it is. Expect more regular updates in the New Year where you can see; the Winter Ball, More Faberry Sneakiness, Much More Klaine/Samcedes, And More About Rachel's Past is revealed. Who wants to meet Shelby?**


	12. Chapter 12: A Ladder For Moths

Part Twelve

"I'm not sure about this."

Quinn shifted uncomfortably, stood outside of the town's costume shop – located about five miles from anywhere useful.

"What's the problem, Barbie Girl?" Mercedes questioned, resting her arm across Quinn's shoulders.

"I just… I don't like these kinds of shops – y'know, having to put on a dress in public and parade around like I'm fishing for compliments… I'll feel like a fool." Quinn muttered, staring up at the rusty sign that creaked with every swish of wind as it hung above the door.

"That is why you came with me – and we have our fabulously flammable gay _and_ your crush parking the car down the road. We're all here to make sure you look smoking hot and _not _look like a fool. Okay?" Mercedes assured. Quinn nodded slowly as Rachel and Kurt approached from down the road.

"You didn't have to wait for us." Kurt declared, a light tone to his voice.

"Barbie's too afraid to go inside. She thinks we'll make her look like a fool. Ye of little faith." Mercedes replied, motioning to Quinn with her head.

Kurt let out a mock-indignant huff and marched up to the door.

"Well, we'll so show her!" Kurt yanked the door open and Mercedes followed him inside.

Rachel watched them go and then turned back to look at a still unsure Quinn.

"You don't have to go in, if you don't want to." Rachel assured and Quinn bit her lip, looking down to the ground.

"I don't want to look stupid." Rachel sighed and moved to stand in front of Quinn, grasping her chin lightly.

"There are many things you look, Quinn Fabray, but _stupid _is not one of them," Rachel stated sternly, one eyebrow raised slightly "silly, for having stood out here for the past ten minutes, maybe. But never stupid."

Quinn let out a chuckle and allowed Rachel to lead her into the shop, now worry free.

"And if they try to put you in anything that looks like a peacock died in it, I'll protect you." Rachel said quietly and Kurt and Mercedes fawned over the multiple outfits the shop offered.

Quinn slowly followed them around, waiting for them to pick something out and for it to be over with. Rachel kept glancing back at her, and Quinn could tell that Rachel was sensing that this wasn't her favourite activity. The tiny brunette seemed to think for a moment before jogging off out of sight.

This worried Quinn slightly, especially as Kurt and Mercedes seemed to take no notice.

Half a minute later, Rachel returned with an elderly shop worker who was holding a dress upon a coat hanger.

"I asked this kindly woman to find a dress that both fits and suits our dear Quinn Fabray as well as being suitable for this Masquerade Ball – and voila!" Rachel motioned to the light creamy white dress with silver embroidery across it.

Kurt and Mercedes 'aww-ed' and Quinn smiled at her thankfully.

"Go try it on, Blondie." Kurt shoved Quinn forwards and the blonde felt that oh-so familiar sense of dread.

"I-I don't think I need to-"

"Try on the goddamn dress." Mercedes muttered lowly. Quinn gulped and looked helplessly towards Rachel.

"Please?" Rachel asked quietly "for me?"

Quinn _had _to relent. She couldn't say no when Rachel was looking at her like _that. _

"Okay." Quinn sighed, taking the dress from the worker and heading to the single cubicle. Kurt, Mercedes and Rachel all took seats on a couch to wait.

It was a minute before Quinn stuck her head out the side and hissed;

"Kurt – I might need a little help with the zipper, I can't really reach it."

Kurt looked as though he was about to stand, but a sly smirk took over his lips quickly.

"I have to call my dad quickly. Rachel, you go help her." Kurt pushed Rachel to her feet and the smaller girl blushed slightly and approached Quinn.

"You're… decent, right?" Rachel asked quietly and Quinn flushed also.

"Yeah, pretty much."

Rachel nodded and slipped inside the cubicle. Quinn turned her back to the brunette and Rachel easily dragged the zipper up.

"Done and dusted," Rachel said breezily "now let's see how you look."

Quinn took a deep breath and turned around. Rachel stayed very quiet, her eyes studying the image before her.

Rachel let out a slow and deliberate exhale as Quinn held her breath.

"You look…" Rachel met Quinn's eyes "amazing." Quinn ducked her head on instinct.

"It's not stupid?" Quinn asked quietly. Rachel shook her head.

"Not in the slightest."

"And I don't look…" Quinn eyed her waistline, sliding her hands down her hips slightly "fat?"

Rachel let out a low gasp.

"How could you even _think_ that you looked fat?" Rachel questioned, her eyes wide. Quinn shrugged, her old pregnancy insecurities making a return.

"You look stunning, Quinn Fabray, and most definitely and undeniably _not _fat. Not even a little bit. I promise." Rachel told her earnestly, with a hint of sternness as well. As if she were trying to rid Quinn of any doubts.

"Cross your heart?" Quinn mumbled, finally remaking eye contact with Rachel.

"Cross my heart," Rachel dragged a finger over her chest in two quick lines to represent a cross and it made Quinn smile, but most importantly Quinn believed her "you'll outshine everybody there."

"I wouldn't if you were there." Quinn replied and Rachel let a small, bashful smile grace her lips.

"I can't, my mom… um…" Rachel seemed to cut herself off, looking around the room for something else to catch her eye, as if she were hoping to change topics.

"Your mom… What?" Quinn asked with a slight frown.

"She – um – you can't say, y'know to anyone else – but she thinks I won't be able to handle it… the people." Rachel said slowly, her eyes flickering between making eye contact with Quinn and not.

"Oh… So the grandpa thing…?"

"Is true – it's just, there's another reason behind it." Rachel explained and Quinn nodded slowly.

"What does Santana think?" Quinn asked and Rachel shrugged slightly, looking up to the ceiling.

"She hates to agree with Mom on anything, but she doesn't want me going either. I think Santana's more scared for me than Mom is… I guess I can't win with either of them." Rachel said, looking back to Quinn.

"That doesn't sound like much fun." Quinn replied, a frown on her lips.

"Life isn't always much fun." Rachel stated lowly.

She promptly smiled, as if the conversation hadn't taken place.

"Let's show the hawks how you look."

Rachel yanked the curtain open and pulled Quinn out. Kurt and Mercedes gasped.

"I think I'm going to cry." Kurt waved his hands quickly in front of his face and Mercedes stood still in shock.

"You look like a Disney Princess…" Mercedes gushed.

"I think she looks like an angel." Rachel said quietly, smiling shyly up at Quinn – causing Quinn to feel a sudden tugging at her heartstrings.

* * *

"QUINN!" Sam shouted, before weaving his way through the crowded school corridor towards Quinn's locker, where the blonde stood with raised eyebrows.

"I have something to show you!" Sam exclaimed, waving his hands as he finally reached her.

"This isn't another of your inventions is it?" Quinn asked with a slight groan. Sam looked affronted.

"Well-"

"What was the last one? Oh yes – a ladder… to help moths escape from the bath. How is that useful?" Quinn stated. Sam frowned.

"How is that _not _useful?"

"Moths don't get stuck in baths!" Quinn told him with a sigh.

"Yes. They. Do!" Sam insisted.

"Even if that were true, it's just not in their nature to _learn_ how to use a ladder! They have wings! When a moth thinks about travelling _vertically upwards_, a _ladder_ is just the _last_ thing they would think of!" Quinn exclaimed, slightly irritated at having to relive the four hour experience she'd had last week when Sam attempted to demonstrate his 'ladder for moths' in her house and ended up taking a tumble down the stairs after trying to catch the moth that had escaped… without the use of the ladder.

Sam pouted. He parted his large lips, preparing to speak when Brittany ran over and interrupted him.

"Wait – Did I hear correctly? You have something that can get moths out of my bath?" Brittany questioned in awe.

Sam grinned, sneering at Quinn slightly, who rolled her eyes in return.

"Yes, I do. It's a special contraption – a ladder, small enough to fit in the bath but big enough for a moth to use it in order to climb out of the bath." Sam pulled one out of his backpack, causing Quinn to frown deeply.

"Do you just carry that around?" Quinn mumbled, but her question went unanswered.

"How much would you like for it?" Brittany asked excitedly "20?"

Brittany thrust out a handful of notes and Sam nodded enthusiastically.

"Sure!" He handed over the ladder and Brittany gave him the money before she went away skipping giddily.

Quinn shook her head.

"That was… surreal."

Sam merely shrugged, a confident smirk on his lips.

"At least someone appreciates my inventions." Quinn rolled her eyes once again and then her phone began ringing. She picked it up.

"_Quuuiiiinnnn_!" Blaine drawled "_I'm so bored left here!_"

Quinn sighed, she'd almost forgotten that Blaine was at her house, alone and waiting for her to get home from school.

"_Please can I come up to McKinley? I'll be good! And quiet! I promise!_" begged Blaine desperately.

"I'm sure it's much more boring here than it is there." Quinn told him. Sam listened intently.

"_Oh, but please, Quinn! I feel so trapped here… like a moth in a bath_!" Blaine whined.

Sam quickly leant forwards.

"I have something for that!" Sam exclaimed before Quinn shoved him back.

"Ignore him," Quinn mumbled "it's only a couple of hours, Blaine! Look, I'm sure my mom has the _Desperate Housewives _box set around somewhere. Put that on and you'll be sorted."

"_Will do!_" Blaine replied, his tone reasonably lighter than a few seconds before "_and tell Sam that I don't want to buy any more of his inventions – that hair gel and shampoo all-in-one was a disaster! I spent all morning washing it out!" _

Quinn glared slightly at Sam who let out a sheepish laugh before running off down the hallway.

* * *

Quinn was walking to the choir room for lunch when she felt a hand close around her wrist and yank her out of sight and under the stairwell.

"What the-"

"It's okay! It's me!" Rachel quickly assured her, peeping her head out to check that no one – namely Santana – was around "I'll be quick, I just wanted to talk to you."

"Okay – what's up?" Quinn asked.

Being in close proximity to Rachel was both raising her pulse and rapidly heating her whole body.

"I wanted to know if you wanted to hang out again today after school?" Rachel questioned.

Quinn felt her mouth go slightly dry so she nodded enthusiastically. Rachel let out a small chuckle.

"Great… Puck's covering for me again, so we're all clear on the Santana front… I, um, I was wondering if we could go somewhere… Like, the Lima Bean or something… O-Or not, if you don't want…" Rachel suggested.

Quinn grinned like a fool.

"Of course!" Quinn exclaimed, a giddy smile on her lips "I'd love that – like that! I'd like that. Thanks. I'll meet you there?"

"Yeah, see you then…" Rachel said, but made no move to leave.

They both stood – slightly awkwardly – looking at each other.

"I should…" Rachel nodded to out from under the stairwell and promptly walked out "hey, Kurt."

Kurt smiled at Rachel, waited until she'd left before pushing Quinn back under the stairwell and joining her.

"You're going on a date with Rachel!" Kurt squealed quietly.

"N-no I'm not." Quinn refuted, shaking her head defiantly.

"Yes you are! I've been eavesdropping for the past minute! You're totally going on a date!" Kurt told her and Quinn gasped, slightly affronted that he'd been listening in on them "Mercedes, you agree with me, right?"

Kurt reached out and dragged Mercedes in with him.

"Totally. She asked you to 'hang out' but she wants to go somewhere public with you. It's so obviously a date, it hurts!" Mercedes concurred.

Quinn huffed at them.

"It is not a date! Rachel doesn't like me that way! It. Is. Not. A. Date." Quinn stated sternly.

"No matter how much I wish it were – it is not."

Kurt and Mercedes sighed sympathetically and it irritated Quinn that they pitied her.

"I don't need your pity, okay? You've both got someone. You're sorted. I freaking like - _maybe love _– someone who certain _does_ not and _will_ not _ever _like me back. Please, _please _stop with these attempts at jokes at my expense because I am physically _hurting _with the pain of liking Rachel Berry and neither of you have _any _idea what that feels like. But do not pity me." Quinn muttered lowly.

She could see Kurt and Mercedes' looks of sympathy only grow further so she walked away from them, not looking back even when they called after her.

* * *

Quinn didn't go to the choir room because Kurt and Mercedes would obviously follow her there and she didn't want to snap at them anymore because it wasn't fair on them.

She thought about going to the cafeteria, but she didn't have any friends in there either… and that'd be the second place Kurt and Mercedes would look.

She'd been a bitch to Sam about his inventions as well. She'd basically alienated her best friends.

So, sadly and depressingly, Quinn found her way back into that familiar place of the bathroom; sitting alone in a stall with her lunch.

She was halfway through her sandwich when she heard the bathroom door opening and then a sweet, angelic voice called out;

"Quinn? Are you in here?"

Rachel. It was Rachel. _Of course._

Quinn sighed and resigned to answering the tiny brunette – it's not like she could really hide.

"Can you – can you not be here right now, Rachel? Please?" Quinn called out shakily.

She heard Rachel emit a long exhale and then footsteps approached her door.

"Kurt and Mercedes were worried about you… And I remembered you telling me that you used to eat in the bathrooms at your old school so I figured this is where you'd be," Rachel sighed "and if you're upset, Quinn, then right here is where I want to be. This friendship works two ways. It's not just you that has to deal with me when I'm upset; I have to return the favour. If anything, it's only fair. Please, Quinn. Let me return the favour. I'm here and I'm here _for _you. Please talk to me."

Quinn felt her eyes tearing up at the statement. She slowly put her lunch away, stood up and unlocked the door.

Rachel approached her immediately and wrapped her arms around the blonde.

"For someone who's never really had any friends, I'm pretty good at alienating them." Quinn mumbled into Rachel's shoulder.

"You haven't alienated them, Quinn. So you've had an off day – had a rant or two. It doesn't mean that they're gonna stop being your friends. They care about you, Quinn; they were so worried that they'd upset you that they were set to do a full search of the school to find you. Lucky I knew you'd be here. You've gotta have more faith in people." Rachel told her earnestly, rubbing Quinn's back gently and soothingly.

"If you knew more about me you'd know why I don't have faith in people," Quinn said, pulling out of Rachel's embrace and wiping her eyes "but I guess I'm trying. Thank you… for coming to find me, Rachel, you didn't have to."

"Yes I did," Rachel replied with a small smirk "that's what friends do, right?" Quinn gave her a watery smile.

"Right."

"Will you come back to the choir room with me?" Rachel held out her hand and Quinn hesitated before nodding, taking Rachel's hand and allowing herself to be led out of the bathroom.

When Quinn returned to the choir room, she was bombarded by Sam, Kurt and Mercedes.

"We're sorry, Quinn! We didn't mean to make you think that we were making fun of you." Kurt rushed out quickly.

"Stop right there," Quinn said gently "Kurt, Mercedes – I'm sorry for snapping at you. It was inexcusable and I'm sorry. Sam – your inventions _are_ clever and they might need a bit of work, but you're creative and you should be proud of what you have and can achieve."

The trio grinned before pulling her into a tight hug.

"You couldn't get rid of us if you tried." Sam told her with a chuckle.

* * *

Quinn made her way to the Lima Bean as quick as she could after school, but Rachel still beat her to it. The blonde entered the coffee shop, spotting Rachel immediately and making her way over.

"Hey." Quinn greeted, shucking her coat and sitting down opposite the tiny brunette. Rachel beamed at her arrival.

"Quinn, hi! I've already ordered you a drink. Hot chocolate?" Quinn nodded "yeah, I remember you drinking it last time we were here."

"That's sweet of you, thanks. How much do I owe you?"

Rachel immediately shook her head.

"No, it's on me." Rachel waved her off and Quinn frowned.

"At least let me buy you something." Quinn offered and Rachel hesitated before sighing and looking over to the counter.

"Fine, you can get me one of those muffins. _But _you must guess which flavour I want." Rachel challenged and Quinn smirked.

"Oh please, this is gonna be easy." Quinn took the challenge and confidently strode over to the counter.

When Quinn returned, holding out the muffin for Rachel to take, the tiny brunette grinned.

"Correct," Rachel chuckled, taking the blueberry muffin from Quinn "how did you know?"

"Oh come on. Blue_berry_. I knew straight off which one you wanted me to get." Quinn teased and Rachel nodded slowly.

"You have great wisdom, Quinn Fabray." Rachel took a bite of her muffin and waited until she'd swallowed to continue.

"I thought that we could use this time to get to know each other a bit better," Rachel suggested with a slight shrug "nothing extremely personal or private – just, things… facts about ourselves that the other doesn't know. You in?"

Quinn was thankful for the 'nothing personal' rule – even though it meant that she couldn't learn anything more about Rachel or her past.

"Okay. You go first; we can take it in turns." Quinn replied.

"Right, well… I'm a vegan." Rachel stated and Quinn nodded.

"Duly noted," Quinn answered before taking her turn "I have an unhealthy obsession with Super Mario Brothers." Rachel laughed.

"That's why you and Sam get on," Rachel chuckled "okay, um, I've never had any pets."

"Me neither. Does that count as my turn?"

"I'm not sure – I'll ask a question, that'll make up for it. How do you know Blaine? I know you know each other from Westerville, just; you went to different schools… So how do you know each other?" Rachel asked.

"Um, his dad used to work for one of my dad's businesses – he kinda helped co-run it. Blaine moved to Westerville five years before I left and he and I had a joint carer until we were old enough to look after ourselves because our dads worked the same hours." Quinn explained.

"Oh," Rachel nodded once, finishing her mouthful "what else is there to say about me? Umm… I used to eat the bubble bath as a kid." Quinn snorted into her drink.

"Shut up! I was a kid, okay?" Rachel huffed, trying to mask the grin on her face.

"No, no it's not that… I used to do that too…" Quinn admitted and Rachel started laughing too.

"We would've been a right pair as kids," Rachel said "oh! I have another fact! I am currently sat opposite the most beautiful girl in Lima."

Quinn whined.

"You just stole my next one!" Quinn said, pouting slightly. Rachel blushed slightly, picking up her drink and eyeing Quinn.

"Smooth, Fabray, very smooth."

* * *

The night of the Winter Ball came quicker than Quinn would've liked; she wouldn't admit it but she was kind of nervous.

Artie and his mom came to pick up her, Blaine and Kurt up from Quinn's house – after having to endure Judy taking multiple photos and agreeing to send them to Artie's mother.

Artie's mom, Cassie, kept going on about how beautiful Quinn was – and then making little comments to Artie about how lucky he was to be going with a girl as stunning as Quinn, embarrassing them both.

A few hours later and Quinn was sat at a dining table between Blaine and Sam and opposite Artie, Kurt and Mercedes.

The evening was going splendidly. She was having a great time with friends – but a little piece of her just missed Rachel. She couldn't help it.

So far during the evening, she'd danced in a group with Artie, Sam, Mercedes, Kurt and Blaine. It felt new and _amazing _for Quinn to be able to go to an event like this and have actual friends she could spend it with and a date whom she actually liked - not someone her father set her up with from the country club.

Despite the theme being Masquerade, Quinn could pretty much recognise all the people she knew at the Ball. For one, she'd seen Finn begrudgingly sat beside his mother, wearing a matching outfit.

She'd also spotted Brittany at some point, dancing quite happily by herself until others left their dates and joined her. Quinn spotted who she suspected to be Puck hanging around and Quinn worked out that they must have come together in order to get in and then separated in order to steal away other's dates.

Quinn felt immediately awful when she realised that she hadn't noticed the other couples getting up to dance except for her and a slightly awkward Artie, who was trying to adjust his glasses over his mask.

Quinn smiled sadly and stood up.

"Would you like to dance, dear Sir?" Quinn asked, holding out her hand and Artie grinned, wheeling out of his placing, taking her hand and leading her to the dance floor.

"I'm so sorry; this is going to be awkward for you." Artie motioned to his chair and Quinn shook her head.

"It's fine. I promise."

Quinn reached forwards and placed her hands upon Artie's shoulders as he positioned his hands on her waist and they slowly moved together.

Quinn could see Sam and Mercedes as well as Kurt and Blaine dotted about the dance floor – as well as two whom she assumed to be Mike and Tina, as they were the best dancers and also conversing quietly with Kurt and Blaine at the same time.

It felt like they'd been dancing for ages, but it probably only equated for about three songs before Artie spoke;

"You miss Rachel, don't you?" Artie asked, drawing Quinn's attention back.

"'Course not." Quinn replied quickly. Artie smirked.

"So, you're totally not imagining that at least three people here look just like her behind their masks?" Artie questioned and Quinn blushed slightly.

"You got me." Quinn chuckled.

"You're wishing she were here right now, aren't you?" Artie continued and Quinn nodded slowly.

"It'd be quite the Christmas present." Quinn said lightly, a small smile ghosting her lips. Artie moved his hands to hold onto Quinn's.

"Well, Quinn Fabray…" Artie pulled back slightly "… Merry Christmas."

Quinn frowned, but Artie just kept looking past her. Quinn slowly turned and her jaw dropped slightly.

A petite figure was making their way down the steps into the ballroom, with flowing brunette hair, wearing a small black dress with a matching mask covering her features.

And she was clearly and deliberately making her way towards them.

Artie slowly wheeled himself back and out of the way and another woman, who he presumed to be Brittany, moved in to dance with him though this wasn't really noticed by Quinn.

Once the woman reached Quinn, they stood looking at each other for a few silent movements.

"Hi…" Quinn breathed.

"Hey…" She replied. Quinn slowly reached forwards and delicately removed the other girl's mask.

Quinn took it away gently, revealing the girl of her dreams.

"You came." Quinn whispered, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips.

Rachel nodded.

"I couldn't resist." Rachel replied with a small grin.

"Where'd you get the dress?" Quinn asked with a smirk and Rachel let out a quiet laugh.

"I'm prepared for every occasion – even emergency masquerade." Rachel stated and Quinn giggled.

"I'm really glad you're here." Quinn told her earnestly.

"Well then, stop standing around and dance with me." Rachel directed, raising an eyebrow.

Quinn held out her hand and Rachel shook her head.

"Mask off. I want to see you."

Quinn took off her mask quickly as possible and placed both of their masks on a nearby table.

"Now?" Quinn questioned.

Rachel nodded, her smile growing.

"Now."

Quinn held out her hand again and this time Rachel placed her own in it and allowed Quinn to lead her to the dance floor.

They moved in close, Rachel's arms snaking up to rest around Quinn's shoulders, whilst the blonde's hands gently held the smaller girl's waist. They swayed both in time with the music and with each other.

"You look beautiful , Quinn." Rachel said quietly, her fingertips gently dancing across the back of Quinn's neck, driving the blonde crazy.

"You've seen me in this already." Quinn brushed off the compliment, but Rachel held her tighter, grabbing her attention again.

"It doesn't mean you're not beautiful. You're always beautiful." Rachel insisted, her eyes wandering across Quinn's face.

"I think you're the most beautiful person I've ever seen." Quinn replied and Rachel pulled back slightly.

"You _think_?" Rachel questioned teasingly. Quinn laughed gently and pulled her closer again.

"I _know _you're the most beautiful person I have ever and will ever see." Quinn corrected and Rachel blushed.

"You are too kind." Rachel mumbled.

"I'm just saying what I feel." Quinn replied and Rachel bit her lip slightly.

"And… how do you feel?" Rachel asked slowly and Quinn felt her own pulse quicken.

"Rachel…"

"Tell me…" Rachel pushed and Quinn smiled lightly.

"I'm… happy you're here." Quinn answered and Rachel nodded slowly.

Quinn wasn't sure what Rachel had been expecting as an answer.

Surely Rachel hadn't sussed that Quinn was totally in love with her, because she couldn't be _that _obvious, could she?

"So am I." Rachel said after a moment.

"What about your grandpa? And your mom? And Santana?" Quinn asked and Rachel was quiet for a second before she replied.

"It's fine. I sorted it."

Quinn raised an eyebrow but didn't ask further.

"I feel bad… for leaving Artie." Quinn stated, looking over her shoulder for her forgotten companion. Rachel's grip seemed to tighten ever so slightly.

"He's fine…" Rachel said shortly, moving her hands to Quinn's cheeks, gently attempting to pull her attention back "come back to me."

Quinn returned her gaze to the tiny brunette and smirked as Rachel's hands moved around to the back of her neck again.

"Jealous?" Quinn asked teasingly. Rachel looked down and shook her head.

"Nope."

"Sure, sure." Quinn chuckled and Rachel met her eyes again with a gasp.

"Quinn Fabray!" Rachel chided in mock-outrage. Quinn laughed harder and it caused Rachel to join her.

Their laughter died down and they danced in a happy silence for a while before Quinn spoke again.

"Would you like a drink?"

"I would love a drink actually." Rachel replied with a small smile.

"Take a seat and I'll grab you one." Quinn nodded to their table where Rachel went and sat down.

Quinn made her way through the crowd to the drinks table where she encountered Sam.

"Is that Rachel?" The blonde boy asked, a large smile on his face as he pulled his mask up to rest on the top of his head.

Quinn nodded, an equally large grin upon her own lips.

"Oh my God, she came just for you, Quinn! This is amazing!" Sam exclaimed, bouncing up and down slightly "you've got to tell her you like her!"

"Tell who?" Blaine asked, walking over with Kurt and Mercedes.

"Rachel! Who else?" Sam enthused. Kurt gasped.

"Is she here?"

Sam nodded his head frantically, his mask slipping down slightly.

"This is your chance, Barbie Girl!" Mercedes encouraged, shaking Quinn's shoulder slightly.

Blaine was craning his neck to see over their shoulders to see Rachel sat down at their table, her eyes wandering over the décor of the room in awe.

"I… I don't think so." Quinn quickly said, turning red and shaking her head awkwardly.

"You can't back out now! This is how it turns out in the movies!" Artie told her, being pushed over quickly by Brittany.

"C'mon, Quinnie – this is, like, meant to be!" Brittany added, a face-splitting beam on her face.

"It's a true love story. Now it's time for the hero to get the girl." Blaine told her with a corny smile.

"_With _help from her super awesome sidekicks," Sam pointed out whilst pouring two drinks and handing them to Quinn "go on, you can't keep your lady waiting!"

"And ask her out, by the end of the night!" Kurt squeaked, feeling a little too excitable.

"Invite us to the wedding." Mercedes said with a chuckle.

"D-do you all really think I should?" Quinn asked, so nervous she could feel herself starting to shake.

"YES!" They all exclaimed in unison.

"O-Okay…" Quinn breathed. She was really going to do it. She was going to tell Rachel she loved her.

Or maybe love was too strong straight away… Perhaps she should just say 'like'? Or does that sound too little? She 'has a crush' on her? That sounds way too 'middle school'.

Quinn was freaking out and the group could see this.

"Calm down, Q." Sam said gently.

"Just be cool about it, but romantic too." Mercedes suggested.

"And smooth – you've gotta be smooth." Blaine added.

"But sweet!" Kurt further suggested.

"And really cute, even though you are already." Brittany included.

"And most importantly; be yourself." Artie finished.

"Right, so I've gotta be cool, romantic, smooth, sweet, cute and myself… Thanks for the advice guys." Quinn mumbled and Blaine sighed.

"I think being you is the best advice actually… Just _go_ and don't keep her waiting any longer than you already have. Good luck, Quinn… We believe in you." Blaine turned her around by her shoulders and gave her a little push in the right direction.

Quinn made her way back over to Rachel who beamed at the sight of her.

"Sorry about that, I got ambushed at the drinks table." Quinn stated and Rachel let out a giggle, tilting so she could see behind Quinn and saw the group around the table who all quickly looked away.

"I see…" Rachel took the drink she was being offered "thanks." Quinn shrugged it off and sat next to her.

Being this close to Rachel started to work her nerves up again and the blonde downed what she presumed to be punch.

"Are you okay, Quinn?" Rachel questioned, shuffling forwards ever so slightly "you've gone a little pale." Quinn nodded quickly, putting on a confidant smile.

"I'm good – great, actually." Quinn replied and Rachel bobbed her head slowly, unconvinced.

"Look, Rachel… I've – uh – I've got something to, um, to say to you…" Quinn started shakily and Rachel shifted closer again, a serious expression on her features.

"You can tell me anything, you know that." Rachel replied sincerely.

"I…" Quinn swallowed heavily, deciding to tell Rachel what she needed to in two parts "I… I think that I _like_ girls… y'know… more than I… _should_…"

Rachel placed her hand over Quinn's.

"I haven't got a problem with that, Quinn. I'm so honoured that you decided to trust me with this and I admire your bravery _so _much." Rachel told her earnestly and Quinn's eyes filled with tears.

"But, that's not it–"

"Want to dance?" Rachel spoke over Quinn, standing up and moving towards the dance floor.

Quinn exhaled heavily, slightly upset that she didn't get to finish what she was saying but followed Rachel anyway.

They resumed their original dancing positions and moved in time once more.

"Kurt and Blaine look so cute together." Rachel stated, looking over Quinn's shoulder at the two boys.

"I know. Good match making on my part I like to think." Quinn said cockily and Rachel giggled, nodding slightly.

"I'm glad Kurt's found someone – he had all of us, but he was still lonely, I could tell…" Rachel sighed, returning her gaze to Quinn's.

They were quiet for a little while before Rachel spoke again.

"I think you're a blessing to this town, Quinn… I mean, your appearance, it's been good for a lot of us… Me in particular," Rachel told her earnestly and Quinn shook her head, a blush reforming on her cheeks "seriously… without you; Kurt wouldn't have found Blaine, Sam never would've had the courage to ask out Mercedes nor would he have hung out with Kurt or Artie outside of school if you hadn't have brought them all together, Artie wouldn't have had a proper date to this Ball… You've done so much Quinn and in such a short space of time – two, three months? You're _amazing_. You've helped me in more ways than you know… You've helped us all really…"

"Santana?" Quinn uttered and Rachel rolled her eyes with a smirk.

"Well, maybe not Santana _exactly_…" Rachel chuckled but Quinn shook her head and nodded behind Rachel.

"No – Santana."

Rachel frowned, parting from Quinn and turned around, seeing her half-sister stood at the top of the entrance stairs – her dark eyes scanning the dance floor before landing on Rachel. Santana let out a half-sob of relief and tore down the steps and towards Rachel and Quinn.

"San…?" Rachel let out a puff of air as Santana barrelled into her, sweeping her into a crushing embrace.

"You had me so, _so _worried, Rach." Santana breathed, one hand splayed across Rachel's back and the other on the back of the brunette's head. Quinn watched the interaction with interest.

"C'mon," Santana pulled away, grabbing onto Rachel's hand and nodding towards the door.

Santana led her sister out and Quinn followed closely. They drew to a stop in an empty hallway.

"I was so worried… I had to – to know if you were okay… I… I needed to see you were here… I just… I couldn't…" Santana shook her head, trying to fight away the tears that burned her eyes. Rachel wrapped her arms around her half-sister.

"I'm fine, San, I'm okay…" Rachel assured quietly as tears streamed down Santana's cheeks "I'm okay… I left you a note… I left a note…"

"I had to check… I couldn't bear it if something had happened a- I was worried… I just had to know…" Santana gripped at the back of Rachel's dress.

"I'm sorry, San… I'm okay, I'm sorry." Rachel uttered, rubbing Santana's back.

Quinn watched on awkwardly. She'd never seen anything close to this side of Santana before and she was left dumbfounded.

_Did Santana nearly say 'again'? _

Quinn was used to seeing Santana comforting Rachel – not the other way around. Who knew Santana Lopez had real human emotions?

"I'm alright, I'm with Quinn. I'm safe." Rachel said to Santana who scoffed, the statement alone was enough to bring her tears to a halt.

"Like that'd make me feel better." Santana muttered, as if Quinn wasn't even in the same room.

Rachel and Santana pulled away just enough to look at each other.

"Come back with me, back to grandpa's… Please, Rachel… I'm not letting you get the bus back at this hour and I'm not leaving you here alone with Peach." Santana begged, Rachel looked down.

"I was enjoying myself, San…" Rachel mumbled. Santana held Rachel's chin and raised her head.

"Please, I need to know you're safe and I can only know that if you're with me." Santana pled and Rachel slowly nodded, looking at Quinn over her shoulder briefly.

"Just… let me say a quick goodbye to, Quinn. Please." Rachel requested and Santana hesitated before nodding and releasing her hold on the tiny brunette, turning her back on them.

Rachel jogged over to Quinn and gave her a hug.

"I'm so sorry to leave, but I have to go with Santana, I've worried her enough this evening." Rachel said hurriedly.

"It's okay, I understand," she didn't understand "I had a great evening. Thank you."

"Me too, and thank you for telling me what you did, Quinn."

Rachel pulled away and looked over her shoulder at her half-sister as if to check that Santana's back was still turned.

And before Quinn could comprehend what had happened, she felt soft lips upon hers.

It was only for a split second but Quinn's mind and heart both smashed like a plate being dropped to the floor and yet it felt like those pieces were being put back together, like everything was sliding into place perfectly.

A second later, Rachel was running back over to Santana and let her older sister wrap an arm securely around her shoulders and lead her out.

Quinn stood in the empty, silent hallway – rather unsure of her place.

She felt lost. What did it mean? What did anything mean?

"Quinn?"

The blonde turned to see Blaine stood at the end of the hallway.

"Are you alright?" he asked and Quinn shrugged mutely.

"Where's Rachel?" Blaine asked further.

"She left with Santana." Quinn told him quietly as he approached her.

"Does she know how you feel?"

"I don't know…" Quinn mumbled and Blaine frowned.

"Wanna talk about it?" Blaine questioned and Quinn shook her head "that's fine… come dance with me and Kurt, we'll cheer you up."

Quinn let Blaine lead her back into the ballroom but she couldn't concentrate on what was happening around her.

Rachel had kissed her but it merely gave her more questions than it did answers.

The whole incident in the hallway aroused so many questions in her mind that it made her feel dizzy.

There were so many things she didn't know…

But she did know one thing – that kiss had felt perfect and it meant _something_, even if she wasn't entirely sure what that was yet.

* * *

**A/N: Things aren't going to be exactly straightforward in terms of Faberry straight away… prepare for major awkwardness and avoiding of the subject. But it's on it's way. Thanks for your reviews and those who helped inspire me to keep writing, which isn't always easy. **


	13. Chapter 13: Beyond Extreme Awkwardness

**A/N: Thirteen. Lucky for some.**

* * *

Part thirteen

The early December chill had Quinn buried under a massive coat and two scarfs as she sprinted from her car and into McKinley. The sudden warm air found her stripping off these layers as she approached her locker.

She held her breath all the way until her locker was in sight. For the past week she'd been hoping to see Rachel leaning up against her locker with that gleaming grin – actually, she'd been hoping to see Rachel at all.

The two hadn't uttered a word to each other since the Winter Ball, much to Quinn's annoyance. Sure, she was _incredibly_ confused about the Rachel situation but she knew they needed to talk it out rather than avoid each other.

However, avoiding seemed to be Rachel's method of choice and was sticking to Santana like glue as an almost deterrent in order to avoid Quinn. And it was working.

Quinn was therefore moping. And it was irritating the hell out of her friends as well as Judy.

With Dalton's roof now rebuilt and safe, Blaine had regretfully returned to Dalton – much to Kurt's despair. The Warbler had left with a promise to return during the winter holidays, whilst his parents visited Morocco. And with Quinn's number now equipped in his phone, he took every opportunity he could – whilst not busy or talking to Kurt – to call Quinn to check up on the Rachel situation.

"Santana's guarding her like a bulldog! I can barely get within a metre before Santana's sending me away with a glare that could kill." Quinn whined down the phone to her Westerville-bound friend who sighed heavily.

"_You know I'm going to counteract every single thing you say with the fact that she kissed you! _She _kissed _you! _That's a massive deal!_" Blaine enthused but Quinn didn't share in his excitement.

"But what if it didn't mean anything to her? What if it's just a friendly thing? What if it was an accident? What if it's just because I told her I like girls? Blaine, I just don't understand anything right now!" Quinn groaned and fell face down onto her bed.

"_Quinn Fabray will you stop feeling sorry for yourself for one second?_" Blaine huffed "_Rachel Berry travelled towns, in the dark, to come and see you – and only you at the Ball. She danced with you and only you all evening. And she took the initiative to kiss you at the end of the night. Why can't you see the obvious?_"

Quinn just squeezed her eyes shut and buried her head further into her pillow.

"_You're face-palming the bed aren't you? Ugh, always so predictable. I just knew that as soon as you'd reached a place in which you were ready to tell Rachel how you felt that you'd refuse to accept even the notion that she could possibly like you back!_" Blaine exclaimed and Quinn growled and lifted her head from the pillow.

"Oh yeah, and you predicted me getting pregnant, leaving the city and turning gay, huh?" Quinn muttered and she could practically feel Blaine rolling his eyes.

"_Okay, well on a few things you've caught me out – but not all of them. I knew you'd turn one day, even if just for a phase during college or something._" Blaine replied coolly and Quinn gasped at him.

"How dare you _bet_ on my sexuality, Blaine Anderson!"

She just heard a laugh on Blaine's end.

"Oh screw you." Quinn hung up and dumped her phone on her bedside table. She'd had enough of her friend's moaning about her moaning. It had gone beyond the verge of annoying.

There was a steady knock at the door before Judy entered.

"Hey, Quinnie, I made dinner." Judy approached her tentatively – she had done ever since two days before when Quinn had yelled her out of the room. She'd had a day full of cruel and low remarks and comments from Santana and it had driven her nuts – and she'd taken it out on her mother.

"Not hungry." Quinn mumbled and Judy sighed.

"When are you just going to buck up and talk to the girl?" Judy crossed her arms over her chest as Quinn turned her head to glare at her.

"Never." Quinn huffed and Judy rolled her eyes.

"No. Not okay, Quinn Fabray," Judy scolded and Quinn narrowed her eyes once again at her mother "you _are_ talking to Rachel even if I have to drag you over to the poor girl's house myself!"

"Don't know where she lives." Quinn mumbled and Judy huffed.

"It doesn't matter. It's a small town, I'll find her. Either you talk to her or you quit this damn pity parade. The only one who is _really_ stopping you from talking to Rachel is _you_," Judy continued when Quinn moved to argue "you've gotten around Santana before and you know full well that if you tried you could get around her again."

Quinn turned her head to bury back into the pillow once more and Judy sighed, before taking a place on the edge of the bed.

"Quinnie, are you ever gonna tell me what happened at that Ball?" Judy asked, rubbing her daughter's back. Quinn shook her head and Judy let out a steady breath.

"And why not?"

Quinn turned her head again to look over her shoulder at her mother.

"You wouldn't want to hear it." Quinn told her and Judy raised her eyebrow.

"Are you willing to bet on it?" Judy questioned and Quinn hesitated before rolling over and sitting up to face her mother.

"Okay… Well, Rachel showed up." Quinn started slowly and Judy rolled her eyes.

"Yes I gathered that, get to the good bit!" Judy hurried her eagerly and Quinn looked away before her gaze met Judy's again.

"Right… well, I told Rachel that I liked girls," Quinn said steadily and Judy nodded keenly "and then Santana showed up too." Judy frowned in distaste.

"That girl – she really knows how to cockblock doesn't she?" Judy tutted and Quinn was momentarily stunned.

"I'm going to ignore the fact that you just said cockblock and continue with the story. Well, Santana was worried and wanted Rachel to leave with her immediately. So when Rachel came to say goodbye to me… she um… she-"

"KISSED YOU?" Judy finished zealously. Quinn nodded and Judy squealed.

"That's fantastic!" Judy then frowned "but wait – why are you so depressed?"

"Because I don't know what it means, Mom!" Quinn exclaimed "she kissed me, yeah, but what? Was it because she knew how I felt, because I like girls, because it was in the spur of the moment?" Quinn flopped back down onto the bed.

"Have you entertained the possibility that it was because she likes you back?" Judy asked, patting the younger girl's knee.

"That's what the others say." Quinn muttered.

"Shouldn't that give you your answer then?" Judy suggested and Quinn shook her head lightly, looking out of the window.

"No. They don't know Rachel well. Like, _really _know her. She's complex. She's not always what people think she is. She doesn't like talking about how she feels, how things make her feel. Who knows how she really feels about anything?" Quinn shrugged and Judy pursed her lips in thought.

"Then I'm back to my original thought," Quinn looked back to her mother "we're not mind readers, Quinnie – the only way we're going to know how someone is feeling is if we ask them. There's no ifs or buts about it. If you want this spout of depression to end then you've got to talk to Rachel."

"But… What if she says something bad?" Quinn asked quietly and Judy smiled sympathetically.

"Isn't it better knowing than being left in the dark?"

Quinn hesitated for a moment before nodding.

"Great. Now, come eat." Judy pulled the younger blonde to her feet and led her downstairs.

* * *

After dinner Quinn was back in her room, lying on her bed and staring up at the ceiling. Her own words seemed to float around her mind. She attempted to dismiss the nagging thoughts in her mind but they were persistent.

_They don't know Rachel well. Like, really know her_.

Quinn furrowed her brow as she finally accepted the words into the forefront of her mind. She wasn't sure why she'd said it. It's not like _she _knew Rachel better than they did.

Sure, perhaps she spent a _little _bit more time with the tiny brunette than certain members of the Glee Club. But Rachel had secrets that she kept held tightly within her grasp.

Quinn couldn't be mad at Rachel for that – it's not like she'd told Rachel about Beth.

Quinn let out a heavy breath. Thinking about Beth always made her heart hurt that little bit more, despite the fact she thought about her every day.

Quinn tried to think about why she hadn't told Rachel about Beth.

She'd told Kurt, Mercedes and Artie too. Not Sam though. _Why? _

The blonde haired girl shifted where she lay, attempting to relax whilst her mind remained restless.

_I don't want Rachel or Sam to judge me. _Quinn pondered this momentarily. _I told the other three because I do trust them, and I know they're not judgemental… they accepted me into their group so quickly, I kinda felt obliged. Not that Rachel and Sam aren't trustworthy. I trust them more than anything…_

Quinn let out a huff as she tried to sort and sift through her own thoughts.

_Maybe I value Sam and Rachel's opinions more… They are my closest friends – aside from Blaine but he practically helped deliver Beth – and maybe potentially losing them, would hurt more… They're the two who I couldn't handle losing. Keeping secrets and keeping two of the best friends I've ever had seems a pretty good option to me. _

Quinn knew that she'd have to tell Rachel and Sam about Beth someday… just not today.

* * *

Friday. Nearly the weekend. This prospect scared Quinn slightly – she had one day in which to try to talk to Rachel or else she'd have to wait the whole weekend.

"You look more chipper!" Kurt declared as he dragged Sam along with him, approaching Quinn at her locker.

"I feel it." Quinn shrugged and the two boys shared a smile.

"So you spoke to Rachel?" Sam asked and Quinn shook her head.

"No, not yet. But I'm planning on it." Quinn replied and Kurt raised an eyebrow.

"And how do you plan to do that, seeing as she's currently chained to Satan?" Kurt questioned and Quinn smiled at her friends.

"I'm going to use the one person who's always managed to gain me access to Rachel so far."

"Who's that?" Sam queried with a frown.

* * *

"PUCK!" Quinn jogged over to the mohawked boy after second period.

Puck turned and greeted her with a smirk "Greetings, Fabray. What can I do for you today?" he asked cockily.

"I need your help talking to Rachel!" Quinn replied and Puck pouted slightly.

"Oh… alright," he straightened up again "so you need some alone time with my Jew babe? I can handle that. When?"

"Today! As soon as possible and as far from Santana as conceivable." Quinn told him and Puck nodded slowly.

"Sure thing. _But_," Puck smirked once more "my services come with a price." Quinn groaned.

"What do you want?" Quinn asked and Puck looked her up and down.

"Dinner. You and me. Tonight." Puck answered and Quinn shook her head quickly.

"Hey, it's dinner or nothing, Fabray!" Puck told her and Quinn pursed her lips.

"How about I do your homework for the next week?" Quinn suggested.

Puck shook his head sternly "Dinner or nada."

"Next two weeks!"

"Breadstix, tonight. Dinner for two at seven?"

Quinn growled, frustrated.

"I'll guarantee you a dinner with any Cheerio of your choice!" Quinn suddenly blurted out and Puck paused to think.

"Hmm… Any _two _Cheerios!" Puck conceded and Quinn held out her hand for him to shake.

"Deal." They shook hands quickly.

"I'll have her to you by lunch." Puck informed the blonde before walking away, pulling out his phone as he went.

* * *

The periods up until lunch couldn't have gone slower for Quinn. Time seemed to slow and everything was in slow motion. The teachers' voices were warped and drawling and Quinn could hardly bear being in classes.

Eventually the clock ticked over to lunchtime and it suddenly dawned on Quinn that she had no clue where she was meeting Puck or Rachel for that matter.

Quinn exited the classroom and was promptly bumped into.

A hand slipped into hers briefly and then was gone as quick as it had come. Quinn frowned as she watched the back of a mohawked head bobbing away through the crowd. The blonde looked down into her hand where she saw a folded up piece of paper.

**Schue's office. You have five mins max. P**

Quinn grinned and quickly made her way over Mr Schuester's office. She looked around before slipping into the room. Quinn found the room empty and moved to perch on the edge of the desk.

It was only half a minute before there was a knock at the door. Rachel was being punctual as per usual.

"Mr Schue? Noah told me you wanted to speak to me." Rachel slowly pushed open the door. She frowned deeply when she saw Quinn.

"Oh… I-I should…" Rachel turned to leave quickly.

"NO!" Quinn shouted after her, causing the tiny brunette to turn and look at her "please, I just wanna talk. Please."

Rachel hesitated before nodding and entering the room cautiously, shutting the door behind her.

"I know you don't want to talk to me or anything but I… I just wanted to…" Quinn swallowed despite her mouth being bone dry "… check."

Rachel folded her arms over her chest tightly.

"Okay?" She prompted quietly.

"Are we… Are we still… friends?" Quinn asked.

"W- Yeah… Yeah, we're still friends. Of course we are." Rachel replied uneasily. Quinn let out a long exhale of relief.

"Good… I just wanted to see, y'know, if… despite… _stuff _that you still want to be my friend. But yeah, good. Glad that's sorted."

Quinn felt awkward beyond belief and by Rachel's constant shifting she could see that the smaller girl felt just as awkward.

"It was stupid of me to ignore you this week and cling to Santana like a child… I'm glad we're friends then." Rachel concluded with a small nod, not quite meeting Quinn's eyes.

It hadn't passed Quinn by that they hadn't actually spoken about what had happened. But if Rachel wanted friends then Quinn guessed that they were friends – no matter how much her stomach protested to it by twisting itself into knots.

"We should head out before Mr Schue comes back." Rachel suggested. Quinn just nodded silently and followed her mutely out of the office.

They spotted the teacher marching down the hallway with Finn in tow and the pair entered the office, barely acknowledging Rachel or Quinn.

"So…" Quinn breathed out unsurely.

"So…" Rachel copied, rocking back and forth on her heels.

Just as the interaction descended into the realm beyond extreme awkwardness, Sam appeared, bounding boldly towards the two girls.

"HEY!" he greeted cheerily "I was wondering, Quinn, if you'd like to join me for a Mario tournament after school today?"

"Um, I actually have swim practise this afternoon." Quinn replied, her gaze shifting to Rachel who looked as though she'd also only just remembered the event.

"Oh…" Sam pouted.

"It's cancelled!" Rachel declared, causing Sam to grin with his large lips "half the team are out on some senior trip and aren't back till this evening, so we cancelled it."

"Then I guess I'm in." Quinn told Sam who fist-pumped.

"Would you like to join us, Rachel?" Sam asked politely to the tiny brunette who just gaped at him slightly, her eyes flickering over to Quinn's as if asking if it's okay.

"I've never actually played." Rachel said sheepishly after Quinn sent her a small nod. Sam's jaw smashed through the ground.

"We are educating you, young one!" Sam declared boldly "see you ladies later." Sam sent a cheeky wink in Quinn's direction before quickly departing.

"I guess I'll see you at Sam's…" Rachel said slowly "I'll have to get Noah to cover for me again."

"Yeah… see you then." They both hesitated before promptly walking in different directions.

Quinn looked back over her shoulder and saw Santana running up to Rachel urgently, glaring at the blonde over the brunette's shoulder. Quinn quickly turned away and continued walking, whilst attempting to listen to what Santana was saying but missing it completely.

* * *

"Just… don't die!" Sam urged. Rachel was solely in control of the remote, with Quinn and Sam on either side of her.

"Great pep talk, Sam." Quinn hissed.

She'd been in a mood all afternoon. It wasn't something that Quinn could help, it was like HBIC Quinn was rising once more from the depths of her mind.

Rachel didn't want her back. The kiss had meant nothing. They were _friends_. Friends who got coffee, played Mario and hugged for no more than a second at a time. And that fact had struck a _very_ bad nerve with Quinn.

"Yeah, I used to _love _dying but that speech really turned me around." Rachel jibed sarcastically and Sam rolled his eyes at her.

"Sarcasm. That's new." Quinn mumbled, with a slight roll of her eyes.

Rachel looked at her confusedly out of the corner of her eye.

"What?" Quinn hissed, causing Rachel to quickly return her gaze to the screen.

Sam furrowed his brow at the blonde.

'What the hell?' He mouthed at her.

Quinn just diverted her gaze. _Why am I being such a bitch today?_

"I'm getting a drink." Quinn huffed after a minute – being close to Rachel was just working her up and she needed to clear her head for a moment before she exploded at either of the other two occupants of the room.

"Could you get me one?" Rachel asked quietly.

"Get it yourself." Quinn growled, slamming the door on her way out.

_Oh crap_. Quinn charged down the stairs. _I guess some habits really do die hard._

Quinn entered the kitchen and leaned back against the counter-top. She squeezed her eyes shut.

_You're not angry with Rachel. You're upset and hurt. Do not lash out anymore, Q, just don't. You are not that person anymore. You don't need to be mad at the world. You have a mom who cares now. You have good friends. You don't need to be angry. _

"Quinn?" Rachel stepped into the room tentatively "are you okay?"

"Fine." Quinn breathed out steadily, opening her eyes again.

"No, you're not," Rachel moved closer to Quinn "what's _wrong_ with you? First you were all awkward with me and now you're pissed at me? I thought we said we were _friends_!"

"Yeah? Well _maybe_ I don't want to be _friends_!" Quinn exclaimed.

Rachel instinctively took a step back and before she could say anything, Quinn brushed past her and stormed out of the house, shoving a worried Sam out of her way as she went.

* * *

Quinn ignored her mother's calls as she stomped all the way from the front door to her bedroom. Once inside, she let out a low and shaky breath, before attempting to rid of her pent up distress by heading into her bathroom and splashing cold water onto her face.

_How could I be so stupid_?

Quinn leaned against the basin and sighed heavily. Rachel was the last person she'd wanted to witness HBIC Quinn.

After a few minutes of silence, Judy's voice followed a tentative knock "Quinnie?"

Quinn took a deep breath before replying "Yeah, mom?"

"Can you come out here please? It's important." Judy asked and Quinn hesitated before exiting the bathroom.

"What's up?" Quinn asked as coolly as she could manage.

"I don't know what happened at Samuel's house, but I know that there's a very upset little Jewish girl stood alone in our hallway, requesting to see you at once. Would you happen to know anything about this?" Judy prompted and Quinn squeezed her eyes shut.

"Mom… I can't…"

"Quinnie, you _can_ and you _will_ go and talk to that girl or I'll go and bring her to you." Judy said sternly.

"Mom…" Quinn whined.

"Fine," Judy huffed before walking to the bedroom door "Rachel dear! You can come on up!"

Quinn stomped her foot and glared at her mother.

"I told you I'd do it." Judy said with a shrug before exiting the room just as Rachel entered. Rachel looked slightly out of breath and her eyes were red rimmed.

"I got Noah to drive me…" Rachel mumbled quietly, wringing her hands together "I think it's important that we… um… we talk…"

"I'm sorry I yelled at you." Quinn confessed, ducking her head.

"I don't care that you yelled. I care about what you said," Quinn raised her head to meet Rachel's eyes "did you mean what you said?"

"Rach…"

"Please… Did you mean it?" Rachel asked, her voice thick with tears.

Quinn's eyes watered just at the sound. She merely nodded. There was no backing out now. It was all or nothing. Go big or go home.

"I meant it with all my heart."

Rachel swallowed heavily, before slowly reaching into the bag hanging off her shoulder.

"I… I brought this to Sam's with me t-to give to you, but you left so quick I didn't get a chance…" Rachel brought out a small wrapped gift and handed it to Quinn with shaky hands.

Quinn slowly took off the wrapping paper and frowned slightly. It was a blank-covered CD case.

"I'm not good with words... not when it comes to the things that matter. I just - Just look at the back." Rachel instructed gently and Quinn turned it over before letting out a watery chuckle at the song list.

"_Gives You Hell_ – the first time I heard you sing." Quinn commented, as she read out the song list.

She let out a low gasp.

"_Beth_ – Rachel… you… just…" Quinn couldn't find the right words but Rachel seemed to understand.

"Keep going." Rachel said.

"Wait – _Taking Chances_? That's what you sang the day Mr Schue was being an ass? I didn't listen to the song… I was just… watching you." Quinn confessed quietly and the corners of Rachel's lips turned up.

"_Shark in the Water_." Quinn read out.

"As in the McKinley High Sharks… our swim team." Rachel explained and Quinn nodded slowly.

"I liked getting to spend that extra hour with you before the weekend." Quinn admitted, moving onto the next song quickly to avoid embarrassment.

"_I'm Gonna _Be, The Proclaimers. I remember us dancing like absolute idiots." Quinn chuckled and Rachel joined in.

"You asked, 'what say you to fun, Miss Berry?'. There aren't a lot of times I sing just for fun, but that was one of them and I loved it. Not caring about the Glee kids watching or with the pressure of being on stage." Rachel explained and Quinn beamed at her.

"_Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop_?" Quinn choked out and Rachel shrugged.

"It's the only song I could find to really do with coffee – because I joined you and the others for coffee that afternoon. I'd never been out for coffee with friends before." Rachel told her and Quinn deflated slightly.

"_Right Place Right Time_."

"When you saved me from my date with Finn." Rachel stated, taking a step forwards.

"_Funny Girl _– the film we watched that night," Quinn continued "um… _Just the Way You Are_?"

"At the costume shop, you asked me if you looked fat," Rachel stepped even closer "you looked anything but."

Quinn swallowed as Rachel was slowly closing the large gap that had been between them. Rachel then looked down at the CD case, reading off the last song title.

"_A Thousand Years_…" Rachel said quietly.

"… The song that was playing when you walked into the ballroom." Quinn finished

"You noticed?" Rachel asked, eyebrows raised ever so slightly.

"Of course I did." Quinn replied, her breaths getting heavier.

The CD – Rachel had documented their friendship so far in song. Quinn swallowed heavily again.

"I care about you, Quinn, I really do… but…" Rachel looked down to the ground and Quinn felt her heart drop into her stomach.

"You're my best friend, you know that right?" Rachel continued and Quinn felt like she was being stabbed repeatedly in the chest.

"But…" Rachel let out a slow and deliberate breath "I don't want to be your friend either."

Quinn frowned as Rachel's eyes met hers, tears shimmering in her chocolate hues.

"Y-you mean that… you…?"

Quinn didn't finish her question. She didn't need to. Because Rachel was nodding, a small smile growing on her lips.

"I thought that I was sneaking around to meet you, because I liked being your friend… but then I… I there was a day and I was sat across town, in my grandpas house, not thinking about how nice it was to see him or how relaxed Santana was for once… no, I was thinking about you and how the only place I wanted to be was dancing with you at the ball," Rachel sniffed "so I got a bus across town, grabbed a dress and when I was getting changed I thought… 'What am I doing?' I had abandoned my family to spend the night with you and then I knew… I knew that it wasn't because you were my friend… but because you're so much more than that."

Quinn's heart was beating so fast it felt like it was about to explode. Her mouth was dry. Her palms were damp. She stomach was being attacked by butterflies.

Rachel liked her back.

Quinn dug her nails into her palms – just to check that this was reality and nearly wept when she realised it was all real.

"Say something." Rachel said shyly.

"You're telling the truth?" Quinn managed to choke out and Rachel nodded "cross your heart?"

"Cross my heart."

Rachel dragged her fingers across her chest in an 'x' just like she'd done in the costume shop.

Quinn grinned and wrapped her arms around the brunette's neck, pulling Rachel into a hug so tight she thought she might be suffocating her.

"I've liked you since the second you swept into Miss Pillsbury's office on my first day," Quinn said into Rachel's ear "I thought you were the most beautiful person I've ever seen. I couldn't take my eyes off you that day or any day since. I want to be with you, Rachel. More than I've ever wanted anything in my life. Everyone could see how I felt for you, everyone I think except for you."

"Including me… actually." Rachel admitted and Quinn pulled away just enough to be able to look at the tiny brunette.

"You knew?"

"I hoped," Rachel shrugged "and I mean _really _hoped."

Quinn laughed and buried her head in Rachel's neck.

A sudden thought struck her and she pulled away.

"Rachel… I… we can't…" Quinn gestured between them and Rachel furrowed her brow.

"What? Why?" Rachel asked, suddenly insecure again.

"Santana!" Quinn exclaimed and Rachel turned quiet.

"If she knew about us… she'd go insane," Rachel mumbled "then she doesn't have to know!"

"I am not going to be the reason you lie to Santana, Rach, I'm not going to put you in that position anymore." Quinn replied.

Rachel sighed "Quinn, the only times that I have ever not regretted lying to Santana are when I'm lying about you. It sounds bad, I know. But it's true. We'll tell her about… whatever we are, one day, we'll ease her into it. I want to be with you, Quinn, but to avoid you getting your head ripped off by my sister's bare hands, we'll have to keep it a secret."

"Don't you think we have enough of those already?" Quinn joked and Rachel smiled, nodding slightly.

"I know and that's something we'll overcome… but for now, I guess we're going to both need to have one more." Rachel told her.

"I can handle that. I'd do anything for you." Quinn grasped Rachel's hands with her own.

A sudden loud honking interrupted the moment.

"Shoot, that'll be Noah." Rachel mumbled apologetically.

"I don't want you to go." Quinn whined pathetically, dropping her head to Rachel's shoulder.

Rachel chuckled at her behaviour. Quinn felt a vibration from Rachel's bag and watched as the tiny brunette pulled out her phone.

"Okay I really have to go now, Santana needs me back at home." Rachel pulled away from Quinn.

"Wait!" Quinn exclaimed, pulling Rachel closer again and quickly dropping to one knee "Rachel Berry, will you please be my secret girlfriend?"

The car horn honked loudly again but Rachel didn't move.

"Yes! Of course I will you goof!" Rachel quickly kissed Quinn's knuckles as Puck's honking became incessant.

"I'll see you on Monday!" Rachel blew her a kiss before running out of the room.

Judy entered a minute later to find Quinn still on her knees.

"Quinn Fabray," Judy said sternly "you marry that girl and you marry her now."

Quinn grinned like the Cheshire Cat. She was dating Rachel Berry. Her mind was still reeling and her heart was dancing around in her chest.

Rachel liked her back. It was all real. Everything Quinn had wanted for the past four months.

Sure, things weren't perfect. There was Santana, of course. And the fact neither knew about each other's pasts.

But they were together.

That's all that matters, _right_?

* * *

Monday came slower than Quinn would've liked. Sure she'd been texting Rachel all weekend, but it wasn't like seeing the girl herself.

Quinn was currently waiting at her locker for the tiny brunette. And as soon as she saw the anxious looking brunette, her face lit up.

Rachel approached Quinn but looked worried.

"Rach? What's wrong?" Quinn asked, realising that it was serious.

Rachel didn't answer and Quinn's attention was immediately drawn to Santana storming down the hallway past them, screaming curses and throwing freshmen to and fro as Brittany followed quickly behind, trying to calm the raging Latina down.

"What happened?" Quinn questioned.

"She got a letter from her father." Rachel replied quietly. Quinn looked back to the tiny brunette.

"Where's her father?"

Rachel hesitated, still looking in the direction Santana left.

"He's in prison."

* * *

**A/N: I hope you're not going to lynch me for waiting two months to update. (Really sorry about that by the way) And sorry this was all very Faberry-centric. I wanted to fit in more Santana/Rachel stuff but nothing I wrote fit in with the chapter, so I decided to throw in this bit at the end to make up for it. There's gonna be more about the past coming up really soon, it just required Faberry to be in a relationship first. As well as the introduction of the lady herself, Shelby. And guess who's gonna be the first to find out about Faberry next time? Because we all know someone will!**


	14. Chapter 14: The Roaring Velociraptor

Part Fourteen

Secret Girlfriend is one label Quinn never thought she'd be the holder of. She'd had 'Christian', 'Cheerleader', 'Pregnant', 'Loser', 'Loner', 'Newbie' and 'Baby Gay' so far and now she was 'Secret Girlfriend' – specifically Rachel Berry's Secret Girlfriend. That thought alone brought a giddy smile to Quinn's lips every time it crossed her mind – which was, frankly, just about all the time.

However, as of about ten seconds beforehand, there was a new thought in her mind that didn't quite make her feel as giddy.

Santana's father was in prison. For some completely unknown reason, that fact just didn't settle well with Quinn. It fused an uncomfortable coil in her stomach and drew her brow into a frown.

"Why?" Quinn managed to ask to a very quiet Rachel, who was still not looking at Quinn but in the direction of which Santana had stormed past.

Quinn was dying for an answer. However, Rachel seemed to be unwilling to give her one – deciding to just follow Santana's direction, not giving Quinn _any _response at all.

Before Quinn could follow, a seemingly slightly catatonic Rachel, Sam had jumped out at her.

"RAWWWWWWWWW" Sam yelled into her ear, causing to Quinn to leap into the air before smacking the hysterical boy harshly on the arm.

"What the _hell _was that, Sam?" Quinn snapped, her pride slightly bruised as many onlookers were now laughing at her.

"My impression of a Velociraptor!" Sam exclaimed, as if it should've been obvious "the best thing about the Velociraptor impression is that you get to gently bite and claw at people, see!"

Sam held up his hands like claws and scratched at her lower arm as his teeth nipped at her shoulder.

"Hey guys, I don't wanna know what kinda freaky stuff you get up to in the bedroom, but don't do it in public." Artie stated, chuckling as he wheeled up next to them. Sam unlocked his jaw from around Quinn's now slightly sore shoulder and turned on Artie.

"Oh hell no." Artie mumbled, slowly backing up as Sam stalked towards him, with a sly grin and claws at the ready.

"I really need new friends." Quinn mumbled, turning her back on the pair and walking away to find Rachel – missing Artie making a break for it and being chased by a screaming Sam.

* * *

"Things have been getting _really_ _weird_ here at school, Blaine." Quinn mumbled, on the phone with her best friend whilst in the girls' bathroom at the beginning of lunch.

"_Like what?_" Blaine responded, letting out a slight chuckle of disbelief.

"Well, Kurt's been so depressed since you left that he wore the same outfit twice last week and has told me that fact seven times already, Mercedes held some incredibly strange protest about tater tots during study hall, Sam turned into a Velociraptor, Artie's his victim and I don't think either of them have been to lessons today, Brittany tried to set Mike's shoes on fire during Biology – on purpose – Santana's made seventeen freshman cry today alone and Rachel's barely speaking in full sentences." Quinn explained, rubbing her forehead.

She heard a snort followed by the sounds of uncontrollable hysterics coming from Blaine.

"Oh forget you." Quinn huffed, giving up hope in confiding in her best friend. She hung up on Blaine before making her way towards the cafeteria.

The Glee club had decided to venture out of the choir room for once at Lunch, after Puck made a comment about the rest of the school beginning to forget that they existed. Half the group didn't see a problem with that fact, but agreed to the move as to not be separated from the rest of the club.

Quinn entered the cafeteria, immediately spotting the Glee club, who stuck out like a sore thumb against the background of cheerleaders and footballers who usually dominated the area. The blonde made her way over, spotting an open seat beside Rachel and rushing to get there quickly, noting that Santana, Brittany, Sam and Artie weren't present.

Rachel wasn't interacting with the rest of the group but did, however, look up and smiled stiffly in Quinn's direction as she approached. The tiny brunette moved her books from the seat beside her, showing that she'd been in fact saving the spot for Quinn.

"Thanks." Quinn said quietly, as to not disturb the conversation taking place at the table.

"It's okay…" Rachel replied just as lowly "I, um, wanted to apologise, for taking off earlier… I was just worried about Santana."

Rachel sent her a reassuring smile that didn't fit its purpose.

A part of Quinn didn't quite believe her.

"I understand." Quinn lied, moving her hand underneath the table to squeeze Rachel's once, before returning it to her side.

Rachel seemed to have other ideas, however, as her hand followed after Quinn's own, trailing slowly across the blonde's lap and resting gently over it.

Quinn barely hid the smile that quirked at her lips, pretending to tune into the conversation taking place.

"Hey, Kurt – didn't you wear that on Friday?" Mercedes asked, closely looking at the boy's sweater. Kurt gasped, horrified.

"Oh _God_, you _can _tell!" Kurt exclaimed, dropping his head to his hands. Tina jumped in and changed the conversation before Kurt had a nervous breakdown.

"Has anyone seen Sam or Artie?" Tina asked and the group all shrugged non-committedly.

"Last I saw, Artie was hiding in the showers." Finn spoke up, his gaze mainly tracked on Rachel, who didn't seem to notice his stare. Quinn noticed it however, and it made her want to clock the oaf square in the jaw.

"And Sam stampeded our Math class during third period." Mercedes mumbled, slightly embarrassed at her boyfriend's antics.

"I gotta start going to Math again." Puck mumbled, stuffing his mouthful of food.

Quinn's interest in the conversation dipped as she felt Rachel turning over her hand. A lone index finger then began to trace across her palm, spelling out a word.

Y-A-W-N

Quinn chuckled, sneaking a look at Rachel who was smiling lightly back at her. Quinn shifted her hand to interlink with the tiny brunette's and Rachel's smile turned shy.

"OH MY GOD!" They all heard a voice yell.

Every single member of the New Directions jumped, startled, many sets of knees simultaneously bashing into the underside of the table. Quinn and Rachel's hands sprang apart as a blonde head poked out between them from underneath the table.

Sam's jaw was slack as he stared up at the pair, the edges of his lips turned up into a grin.

"What the hell, Dude?" Puck growled, breaking the lull in conversation.

Sam crawled out from his hiding place and perched between Quinn and Rachel. Half of the occupants of the cafeteria were laughing pitifully at the startled group and Puck was less than amused as he tried to rid of the milk covering his t-shirt.

"How long have you been down there?" Tina asked as she crossed her legs tightly, feeling slightly exposed. Mike noticed her movement and turned a glare on Sam.

"For like half an hour. I was waiting for Artie." The blonde boy informed them as he stole a few of Finn's chips that lay scattered across the table and dropped them easily into his large mouth.

"Not okay, Sam." Kurt muttered, inspecting the dot of sauce that was on the corner of his sleeve.

Sam just chuckled evilly, loving the results of his impromptu outburst.

Quinn just sat pouting, annoyed that a well-built blonde boy was now blocking her view of her girlfriend.

Silence fell over the previously muttering group as a shadow was cast over the table. All looked up to see a red-eyed Santana standing before them, eyes cast downwards, a silent Brittany stood slightly behind her, their pinkies linked.

Santana didn't need to say a word, as Rachel rose from her seat.

"I'll see you all in Glee." Rachel mumbled, straightening out her skirt, directing a soft gaze pointedly at Quinn before following her sister and Brittany out of the cafeteria.

"Santana's fucking scary, man." Finn muttered before pouring the contents of his chip bag into his awaiting mouth.

Sam turned to Quinn, hiding his mouth behind his hand "Can we talk, like, privately?" he asked and Quinn nodded.

"If you see Artie, text me his location." Sam said to the group before putting a hand on Quinn's shoulder and directing her out of the room.

The football player maintained his silence until they entered the choir room, where he let it all come spilling out.

"Okay, Q, you've gotta be real honest with me here, no lies or nothing – are you or are you not dating Rachel?" Sam asked, fidgeting in place, buzzing with anticipation.

Quinn sighed. She considered lying, but then changed her mind – considering the fact that she was already _technically _lying to Sam by not telling him about Beth.

And, Quinn guessed, this could be a test to see if Sam could keep a secret.

And if he proved truthful, she'd know she could tell him about her daughter.

"Yes," Quinn answered and Sam began jumping around the room "but you can't tell _anybody_!"

"No freaking way, Q!" Sam exclaimed, knocking into a music stand he was so elated "that is like the ultimate score! You're the first to be able to bag Rachel Berry!"

Quinn rushed over and slapped a hand over the blonde boy's large mouth.

"Ssh! Like I said, you can't tell anybody. We're keeping it a secret for now, until we think Santana's ready." Quinn warned him and Sam's grin dropped.

"No, no-no-no!" Sam wrapped his arms around Quinn dramatically, pushing her cheek into his chest "I don't want you to die!"

Quinn barely let out a chuckle, actually silently terrified of the consequences if Santana were to find out.

Sam pushed her away just enough to look her in the eye.

"Okay, answer me this seriously," Sam said lowly "am I or am I not the first to know about this?"

"Yes, you're the first." Quinn confirmed and Sam's ecstatic energy returned.

"Hell yeah! Blaine can suck it!" Sam roared, punching the air with his first "I'm number one! I'm number one!"

"But remember, you can't tell a soul!" Quinn warned and Sam nodded enthusiastically.

"Of course, consider these big lips zipped." Sam mimed zipping his lips and before lifting Quinn into his arms and spinning her.

Sam only let her down once he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. He grinned widely when he read the message.

"We've had a sighting on Artie! Thank God for my girlfriend." Sam announced as he pocketed his phone once more and dragged Quinn out of the room with him.

They ran down the hall until they spotted Artie hastily shoving books into his locker.

"Aha!" Sam declared, jumping down beside Artie who wheeled back in reflex.

"No! _Stop_ _it_! My attendance is going down the _drain_ due to hiding from you all day!" Artie whined.

Sam paused to think before pulling out his hand, putting down the middle three fingers and holding it to his ear like a phone.

"Calling Quinn Fabray." Sam said.

Quinn grinned, mimicking Sam's gesture and holding her hand-phone to her own ear.

"Quinn Fabray here."

"Quinn! Put down the phone!" Artie warned, pointing a finger at the blonde girl.

"Can you tell Artie that, no, I'm not going to stop." Sam spoke.

Quinn turned to Artie, holding out her hand-phone "Artie, Sam's on the phone. He's not going to stop."

Artie glared at her "I _heard_ him,_ thank you_."

Quinn and Sam cracked up at Artie's hostility, but it died down as they saw Rachel approaching.

Quinn spotted the red eyes and shaky breathes and met her secret girlfriend halfway. She was dying to reach out and take her hand, but thought better of it.

"Hey, what's wrong? Are you okay?" The blonde asked quickly, worried. It reminded her of that day Finn trapped Rachel in his lanky arms and the brunette spent the afternoon sobbing, hidden in the locker rooms.

Quinn placed her hands on Rachel's forearms and rubbed them slightly. Behind her she heard Sam roar and chase Artie away, giving the two girls their space.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just Santana." Rachel nodded, sniffing slightly. Quinn bit the corner of her lip.

"What's going on?"

Rachel averted her eyes to stare aimlessly over the blonde's shoulder, but Quinn wasn't having it and moved back into Rachel's line of sight.

"Rach, you can talk to me. I hate to see you crying," Quinn sighed, keeping her voice quiet "you're too pretty to cry."

Rachel cracked a barely-there smile, as more tears filled her eyes.

"Please don't cry." Quinn mumbled and Rachel clamped her teeth down on her bottom lip, trying to hold back the tears.

"I'm sorry." Rachel choked out and Quinn thought, _to hell with it_, grabbed Rachel's hand and dragged her into the helpfully empty girls' bathroom, just as tears began streaming down the tiny brunette's cheeks.

Quinn rushed to gather some paper as Rachel leant against the sinks, trying to wipe away the tears that cascaded.

The blonde returned with paper in hand. Rachel reached out to take them, but Quinn held them back slightly.

"Let me." Quinn offered, raising the paper to wipe at Rachel's cheeks. She went slowly, seeing Rachel tense slightly.

Quinn waited until Rachel nodded lightly once before delicately wiping away her tears.

"You can trust me, you can tell me anything, and you know that, right?" Quinn said quietly, her words mingling in the short gap of air between them.

"Yes, of course… I just…" Rachel trailed off, and Quinn sighed.

"You just don't want to." Quinn finished, averting her eyes slightly.

She knew that one day, this whole keeping secrets thing would come to bite their relationship in the ass. She just hoped that that day was further down the line than this.

"No, I just – there's just some things, I don't know how to tell you yet," Rachel admitted, wetting her dry lips "and I'm _pretty_ sure you have no right to be mad at me for that seeing as I know for a _fact_ you're doing the exact same thing."

Rachel seemed to become a little defensive, so Quinn put aside the paper and moved to wrap her arms around Rachel's petite waist instead, lightly to avoid Rachel reacting badly to the touch.

"I'm not mad… I'm just worried about you. You don't have to tell me a thing, not ever if you don't want to. I just want to know you're okay. That's kind of my role, as your girlfriend, it's my job to make sure you're okay." Quinn informed the tiny brunette, and Rachel responded by pressing a light and chaste kiss to the blonde's lips, momentarily dazing the ex-cheerleader.

"And as my girlfriend, it's also your job to maybe take me out on a date?" Rachel suggested, causing Quinn to smile broadly.

"Did you just ask _me_ to ask _you_ out on a date?" Quinn questioned and Rachel rolled her eyes.

"I wasn't attempting to be subtle, Quinn." Rachel giggled and Quinn grinned at the sound.

"Okay, will you go on a date with me, Rachel Berry?" Quinn asked and Rachel hesitated.

"Hmm, I don't know…"

Quinn whined "Rachel…" She jostled the smaller girl lightly as Rachel chuckled.

"Alright, alright! I concede. I will go on a date with you. Good thing I already got Puck to cover for me and called your mom in advance." Rachel informed her counterpart, moving out of Quinn's arms.

"You called my mom?" Quinn raised a brow as Rachel grinned wickedly at her.

"I knew you'd rise to my bait." Rachel shrugged as she headed to the door.

"Do I get to initiate a kiss this time?" Quinn suggested and Rachel looked back over her shoulder at the blonde girl.

"If you're lucky." Rachel husked and Quinn's heart skipped a beat.

Rachel smirked before strolling out into the hallway, Quinn following quickly behind like a lapdog.

Rachel linked their arms and shifter her head closer to Quinn's "And, he wanted her to visit him," Rachel said quietly "Santana. That's why she was upset. Her father wanted her to go see him in prison. She refuses to go."

Quinn nodded slowly, before divulging a piece herself "I was kicked out," Rachel stopped, her jaw slack and her eyes watching Quinn unblinkingly "by my parents for the best part of a year. I lived with Blaine and his family until my mom took me back."

"I'm so sorry, Quinn." Rachel mumbled, yanking the blonde into a tight embrace, ignoring the frustrated passers-by trying to manoeuvre around them.

"I won't just drop you like that, Quinn, I promise." Rachel swore and Quinn smile tearfully, burying in closer to her secret lover.

* * *

At the other end of the hallway, stood Santana, hands on hips and snarl on lips. However, she didn't immediately go and unleash a verbal smack down on Quinn like she usually would have, instead she sunk her nails into the back of a passing Finn's shirt and dragged him aside and into an empty classroom.

"What's happening?" Finn yelped as he was tossed inside and the door closed behind them.

"We needs to talk, Finnocence." Santana informed the large boy who was straightening out his shirt.

"About what?" Finn questioned suspiciously, hoping that Santana hadn't found out about his date with Rachel a few weeks beforehand.

"I'm going to make a deal with you, one that will benefit us both," Santana said, strolling towards the jock "we have a common enemy, you and I."

Finn frowned "Who's that?"

"One delightfully disgustingly perfect, Quinn Fabray." Santana muttered and Finn raised an eyebrow.

"I have nothing against Quinn."

"Oh you stupid oaf, Quinn's the one who's been convincing Rachel to not go out with you." Santana explained. Finn frowned again.

"I thought that was you." Finn said and Santana rolled her eyes.

"Yes, I stopped her from actually dating you – but Quinn's been putting her off _liking_ you. Telling her all sorts of crap about your intellect and the size of your genitalia." Santana lied easily.

"The size of my_ what now_?" Finn asked dumbly.

Santana rolled her eyes again "Your junk."

Finn seethed "That bitch."

"Exactly," Santana drawled "now, if you help me _take down _Princess Peach, then I will allow you to go on a date with Rachel."

"The point of Mario is to take down Bowser, not Peach." Finn chuckled, smirking lopsidedly.

"I meant Fabray, you dumbass." Santana growled.

Finn weighed his odds. He really did want a second chance with Rachel, but last time he made a deal with Santana about Rachel she'd been lying the whole time.

Finn shrugged, he guessed it couldn't hurt "I'm in." He considered Rachel to be a risk worth taking.

"Excellent," Santana smirked darkly "I needs to you travel to Westerville."

"That's where Quinn used to live." Finn pointed out and Santana let out a frustrated sigh.

"Congrats, ass-hat. That's the point. I needs you to gather as much dirt as you can on Fabray, so then we can convince Rach that she'd a bad egg. Comprende?" Santana explained and Finn hesitated, feeling unsure about the whole operation before nodding. He _really_ did like Rachel.

"Great. Get to it. I expect results by the end of the week." Santana pinned him with a sharp glare before strutting out of the classroom, feeling lighter about the fact that soon enough she'd be rid of the pain in the backside that was Quinn Fabray.

Santana grumbled "Fucking Peachy" before smirking to herself, sending at least five freshmen running for their lives.

* * *

**A/N: Yeah, yeah I know. You want to see the date, but you're gonna have to wait and see. Cos it's gonna FINALLY involve the woman herself, Shelby. Also, we're gonna get more Klaine and Samcedes, I think. And of course, if not in the next then the one after, Finn's dirt on Quinn… if he finds any that is. And don't worry, Santana's not going to get away with her possessiveness for much longer. Reviews are always welcome, thanks for your comments and favourites so far. **

**A/N 2: Yes, I know, I did put my other stories on hiatus. Sorry if you're waiting for a chap, might be a little while. Exams etc, you know how it is. **


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